LEAGUE 

OF  THE 

H  O-D  E'-N  O-S  A  U-N  E  E 

OR 

IROQJUOIS 


HO-DE'-NO-SAU-NEE 

OR 

PEOPLE    OF    THE    LONG    HOUSE 


I.  Ga-ne-a'-ga-o-no',  or  People  Possessors  of  the  Flint 

MOHAWK     NATION 

II.  O-nun'-da-ga-o-no',  or  People  on  the  Hills 

ONONDAGA    NATION 

III.  Nun-da'-wa-o-no',  or  Great  Hill  People 

SENECA     NATION 

IV.  O-na'-yote-ka-o-no',  or  Granite  People 

ONEIDA     NATION 

V.   Gwe-u'-gweh-o-no',  or  People  at  the  Mucky  Land 

CAYUGA    NATION 

VI.    Dus-ga'-o-weh-o-no',  or  Shirt  Wearing  People 

TUSCARORA    NATION 


^A 

LEAGUE 


OF    THE 


HO-DE'-NO-SAU-NEE 


OR 


IROQUOIS 


.  BY    LEWIS    H.     MORGAN 

CORRESPONDING    MEMBER     OF     THE    NEW    YORK     HISTORICAL    SOCIETY  ;     OF 
THE    AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGICAL    SOCIETY,     ETC. 


NESCIT    VOX    MISSA    REVERTI 

HORACE  De  Art.  Poet.^  v. 


A    NEW    EDITION,   WITH    ADDITIONAL    MATTER.     EDITED 
AND    ANNOTATED    BY 

HERBERT  M.  LLOYD 

TWO    VOLUMES    IN    ONE 


NEW    YORK 

DODD,   MEAD' AND   COMPANY 
1922 


COPYRIGHT,   1901  AND  1904 
BY  DODD,  MEAD  AND  COMPANY 

Printed  in  U.  S.  A. 


UNIVERSITY    PRESS     •     JOHN    WILSON 
AND     SON    •     CAMBRIDGE,    U.S. A 


TO 

HA-SA-NO-AN'-DA 

(ELY    S.   PARKER) 
A   SENECA   INDIAN, 

Cfna  SMorfc, 

THE    MATERIALS    OF    WHICH     ARE    THE     FRUIT    OF 
OUR    JOINT    RESEARCHES, 

3I&  Jnsmbefc: 

IN    ACKNOWLEDGMENT    OF    THE    OBLIGATIONS,     AND 
IN    TESTIMONY    OF    THE    FRIENDSHIP    OF 

THE   AUTHOR 


+93347 


Preface 

TO  encourage  a  kinder  feeling  towards  the  In- 
dian,(3)  founded  upon  a  truer  knowledge  of 
his  civil  and   domestic  institutions,   and    of 
his  capabilities  for  future  elevation,  is  the  motive  in 
which  this  work  originated. 

The  present  Iroquois,  the  descendants  of  that  gifted 
race  which  formerly  held  under  their  jurisdiction  the 
fairest  portions  of  our  Republic,  now  dwell  within  our 
limits  as  dependent  nations,  subject  to  the  tutelage  and 
supervision  of  the  people  who  displaced  their  fathers. 
Their  numbers,  the  circumstances  of  their  past  history 
and  present  condition,  and  more  especially  the  relation 
in  which  they  stand  to  the  people  of  the  State,  suggest 
many  important  questions  concerning  their  future 
destiny. 

Born  to  an  unpropitious  fate,  the  inheritors  of  many 
wrongs,  they  have  been  unable,  of  themselves,  to  es 
cape  from  the  complicated  difficulties  which  accelerate 
their  decline.  To  aggravate  these  adverse  influences, 


IX 


PREFACE 

the  public  estimation  of  the  Indian,  resting,  as  it  does, 
upon  an  imperfect  knowledge  of  his  character,  and 
tinctured,  as  it  ever  has  been,  with  the  coloring  of 
prejudice,  is  universally  unjust. 

The  time  has  come  in  which  it  is  befitting  to  cast 
away  all  ancient  antipathies,  all  inherited  opinions;  and 
having  taken  a  nearer  view  of  their  social  life,  condition 
and  wants,  to  study  anew  our  duty  concerning  them. 
Notwithstanding  the  embarrassments  which  have  ob 
structed  their  progress,  the  obscurity  in  which  they 
have  lived,  and  the  prevailing  indifference  to  their 
welfare,  they  have  gradually  overcome  many  of  the 
evils  inherent  in  their  social  system,  and  raised  them 
selves  to  a  considerable  degree  of  prosperity.  Their 
present  condition,  when  considered  in  connection  with 
the  ordeal  through  which  they  have  passed,  testifies  to 
the  presence  of  an  element  in  their  character  which 
must  eventually  lead  to  important  results.  It  brings 
before  us  the  question  of  their  ultimate  reclamation, 
certainly  a  more  interesting  subject,  in  itself,  than  any 
other  connected  with  the  Indian.  Can  the  residue  of 
the  Iroquois  be  reclaimed,  and  finally  raised  to  the 
position  of  citizens  of  the  State  ?  To  secure  this  end, 
at  once  so  just  and  so  beneficent,  our  own  people  have 
an  important  part  to  perform. 

As  this  work   does   not  profess  to  be  based  upon 
authorities,  a  question   may  arise  in  the  mind  of  the 


PREFACE 

reader,  whence  its  materials  were  derived,  or  what 
reliance  is  to  be  placed  upon  its  statements.  The 
credibility  of  a  witness  is  known  to  depend  chiefly  upon 
his  means  of  knowledge.  For  this  reason,  it  may  not 
be  inappropriate  to  state,  that  circumstances  in  early 
life,  not  necessary  to  be  related,  brought  the  author 
in  frequent  intercourse  with  the  descendants  of  the 
Iroquois,  and  led  to  his  adoption  as  a  Seneca.(1>  5>  9) 
This  gave  him  favorable  opportunities  for  studying 
minutely  into  their  social  organization,  and  the  structure 
and  principles  of  the  ancient  League.  Copious  notes 
were  made  from  time  to  time,  when  leisure  enabled  him 
to  prosecute  his  researches  among  them,  until  these 
had  accumulated  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  present 
volume.  As  the  materials  increased  in  quantity  and 
variety,  the  interest  awakened  in  the  subject  finally 
induced  the  idea  of  its  arrangement  for  publication. 

The  work  properly  commences  with  the  second 
chapter.  The  first,  being  introductory,  has  no  neces 
sary  connection  with  the  residue,  but  was  introduced 
to  give  to  those  unfamiliar  with  the  civil  history  of  the 
Iroquois,  some  preliminary  information  concerning 
the  rise  and  decline  of  the  League. 

It  remains  for  the  author  to  acknowledge  his  obli 
gations  to  Ely  S.  Parker,  Ha-sa-no-an'-da,(2' 13)  an 
educated  Seneca  Indian,  to  whom  this  volume  is 
inscribed.  He  is  indebted  to  him  for  invaluable 


XI 


PREFACE 

assistance  during  the  whole  progress  of  the  research, 
and  for  a  share  of  the  materials.  His  intelligence, 
and  accurate  knowledge  of  the  institutions  of  his  fore 
fathers,  have  made  his  friendly  services  a  peculiar 
privilege. 

To  Charles  T.  Porter,  Esq.,(15)  of  New  York,  who  has 
made  extensive  inquiries  into  the  civil  and  domestic 
institutions  of  the  Iroquois,  and  prosecuted  them, 
in  many  instances,  in  connection  with  the  author,(1) 
he  is  indebted  for  many  valuable  suggestions  and 
for  some  material. 

ROCHESTER,  N.  Y.,  January,  1851. 

*  The  numbers  in  parentheses  refer  to  the  notes  contained  in  Appen 
dix  B  at  the  end  of  the  work. 


GENERAL     CONTENTS 

VOLUME  I 


BOOK    I 
STRUCTURE    OF   THE    LEAGUE 

BOOK     II 
SPIRIT    OF   THE    LEAGUE 


VOLUME  II 


BOOK     III 
INCIDENT   TO    THE    LEAGUE 

APPENDIX    A 
APPENDIX     B 


VOWEL    SOUNDS 


a  as  in  arm 
&  as  in  at 
a  as  in  ale 
£  as  in  met 
5  as  in  tone 


Table  of  Contents 

VOLUME    I 

BOOK  I 
STRUCTURE   OF   THE   LEAGUE 

CHAPTER   I 

Introductory  Outline  —  Origin  of  the  Iroquois  —  Formation  of 
the  League  —  Intercourse  with  Europeans  —  Wars  with 
Indian  Nations  —  Wars  with  the  French — Jesuit  Mis 
sionaries  —  Number  of  the  Iroquois  —  Fidelity  to  the 
English  —  Dispersion  of  the  Nations  —  Present  Condition 

—  Future  Prospects 3 

CHAPTER  II 

Indian  Geography  —  Home  Country  of  the  Iroquois  —  Na 
tional  Boundaries  —  Trails  —  Indian  Map  —  Ho-de'-no- 
sau-nee — National  Names 35 

CHAPTER  III 

Interest  in  our  Predecessors  —  The  Hunter  State  —  Its  Institu 
tions  Transitory — Origin  of  the  League  —  Sachemships 

—  Hereditary  Titles  —  Council    of  the   League — Equal 
ity    of    the     Sachems  —  Chiefs  —  Military    Chieftains  — 
Popular  Influence  —  Unity  of  the  Race 51 

xv 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  IV 

Division  into  Tribes  —  Family  Relationships  —  Descent  in  the 
Female  Line  —  Degrees  of  Consanguinity  —  Succession 
of  Sachems — Names  —  Nature  of  a  Tribe  —  Equality 
„  of  the  Nations  —  National  Epithets  —  Office  of  Chief 
elective  —  Distinguished  Men  were  Chiefs  —  Stability  of 
the  Oligarchy J4 

CHAPTER  V 

Councils  of  the  Iroquois  —  Influence  of  Public  Sentiment  — 
Oratory  —  Civil  Councils  —  Unanimity  —  Mourning 
Councils  —  Wampum  —  Festivities  —  Religious  Councils  99 

CHAPTER  VI 

Species     of    Government  —  Progress    of    Governments     from 
Monarchy    to    Democracy  —  Illustrated    by    a    View    of 
Grecian  Institutions  —  The  League  an  Oligarchy — Liberty  £/ 
of    the   People  —  Stability  of  the  League  —  Prospects  at 
the  Discovery  —  Its  Decline I  20 

BOOK  II 

SPIRIT  OF  THE  LEAGUE 
CHAPTER  I 

Faith  of  the  Iroquois  —  Belief  in  the  Great  Spirit  —  The  Evil- 
Minded  —  He'-no,  the  Thunderer  —  Ga'-o,  Spirit  of  the 

Winds The     Three    Sisters  —  The   Invisible    Aids  - 

Witches — False  Faces — Legendary  Literature  — 
Immortality  of  the  Soul  — -  Future  Punishments  —  Moral 
Sentiments — Burial  Customs  —  Abode  of  the  Great 
Spirit  —  Washington  —  Spirituality  of  their  Faith  —  Its 

Influence 141 

xvi 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  II 

Worship  of  the  Iroquois  —  Keepers  of  the  Faith  —  Thanks  to 
the  Maple  —  Planting  Festival  —  Berry  Festival  — 
Green  Corn  Festival  —  Harvest  Festival  —  New  Year's 
Jubilee  —  Sacrifice  of  the  White  Dog  —  Address  to  the 
Great  Spirit  —  Influence  of  their  Worship 175 

CHAPTER  III 

The  New  Religion  —  Ga-ne-o-di'-yo,  the  Instructor — Pre 
tended  Revelation — Sose-ha'-wa,  his  Successor  —  Speech 
of  Da-at'-ga-dose  —  Speech  of  Sose-ha'-wa  —  Doctrines 
of  the  New  Religion 217 

CHAPTER  IV 

National  Dances — Influence  of  the  Dance  —  Costume  — 
War  Dance  —  Speeches  in  the  War  Dance  —  Great 
Feather  Dance  —  Trotting  Dance  —  Fish  Dance  —  Dance 
for  the  Dead  —  Concerts 249 

CHAPTER  V 

National  Games  —  Betting — Ball  Game  —  Game  of  Javelins 
—  Game  of  Deer  Buttons  —  Snow  Snake  Game  —  Snow 
Boat  Game  —  Archery  —  Peach-Stone  Game  —  Enthu 
siasm  for  Games 280 

CHAPTER  VI 

Indian  Society  — Ancient  Villages  Stockaded  —  Bark  House  — 
Marriage  —  Passion  of  Love  Unknown  —  Divorce  — 
Rights  of  Property  —  Hospitality  —  Criminal  Code  —  Faith 
of  Treaties  —  Use  of  Wampum  —  Usages  of  War  — Cap 
tives  not  Exchanged  —  Adoption  —  The  Hunt  —  Indian 
Life  .  .  .  305 


BOOK  III 

INCIDENT    TO    THE   LEAGUE 

CHAPTER  I 

Fabrics  of  the  Iroquois  —  Their  Artisan  Intellect  —  Indian 
Pottery  —  Earthen  Vessels  —  Moccason  —  War  Club  — 
Tomahawk  —  Rope  Making — Finger  Weaving  —  Bark 
Vessels  —  Bark  Canoe  —  Corn  Mortar  —  Maize  —  To 
bacco  —  Snow  Shoe  —  Indian  Saddle  —  Miscellaneous 

Inventions  —  Basket  Making  —  Costumes  —  Wampum 

Saby  Frame  —  Diffusion   of   Indian  Arts  —  Improvement 

of  the  Iroquois 3 

CHAPTER  II 

Language  of  the  Iroquois  —  Alphabet  —  The   Noun —  Adjec 
tive  —  Comparison  —  Article —  Adverb  —  Preposition  — 
Species   of  Declension  —  The   Verb  —  Fulness  of  Conju 
gation —  Formation   of  Sentences  —  The    Lord's   Prayer         61 

CHAPTER  III 

Indian   Geography  —  Method   of  Bestowing  Names  —  Central 
Trail  —  Its     Course — Ko-la-ne'-ka —  Highway    of    the 
Continent  —  Derivation    of    Niagara  —  Ontario    Trail  — 
Genesee  Trail  —  Conhocton  Trail  —  Susquehanna  Trail  — 
Indian  Runners  —  Iroquois   Map   ........        78 

xviii 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  IV 

Future  Destiny  of  the  Indian — His  Reclamation  —  Schools  of 
the  Missionaries — The  Christian  Party — Schools  of  the 
State  —  Future  Citizenship — Their  Indebtedness  to 
Missionaries  —  Rights  of  Property  —  Injustice  of  Neg 
lect —  System  of  Superintendence  —  Duty  of  the  Amer 
ican  People —  The  Indian  Department 108 

APPENDIX  A 

No.    i 
Schedule  Explanatory  of  the  Indian  Map   .  I  27 

No.    2 

Table  exhibiting,  in  the  Seneca  Dialect,  the  Conjugation  of  the 

Verb  Ge'-yase,    "I  shoot" HO 

APPENDIX  B 

Introduction 145 

Personal  Reminiscences,  by  Charles  T.  Porter 153 

Lewis  H.  Morgan 162 

Ely  S.  Parker i?9 

Charles  T.  Porter,  by  Robert  H.  Thurston 182 

Notes 187 

List  of  Works  Cited 311 

Index 319 


xix 


List  of  Illustrations 

VOLUME   I 

PAGE 
Map  of  the  Territory  of  the  Troquois  in  1720  ....    Frontispiece 

Bark  House To  face       3 

Moccason  for  Male «'          35 

Deer  Skin  Moccason "          44 

Breech- cloth ««          51 

Porcupine  Quills "          58 

Conch  Shell  Breast  Plate "          58 

Moccason  for  Female "          79 

Belt "        10 1 

Pipes "        105 

Skirt st        122 

False  Face ........157 

Kilt To  face  184 

Over-dress,  front "        190 

Over-dress,  back "        191 

Knee  Band "        216 

Wrist  Band "        216 

Arm  Band ««        216 

Head-dress,  frame  work  of 254 

Head  Dress To  face  254 

Neck  Lace "        254 

Knee  Rattle  of  Deer's  Hoofs 255 

War  Club 256 

Male  Leggin To  face  256 

xxi 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Drum 257 

Turtle-shell  Rattle  .'...;• 268 

Female  Leggin To  face  274 

Squash-shell  Rattles 276 

Ball  Bat  (La  Crosse) 283 

Javelin       .     , ' 287 

Deer-buttons 290 

Snow  Snake 292 

Snow  Boat 293 

Bow 296 

Arrow 296 

Arrow,  Horn-pointed 297 

Sheaf  (Quiver) 298 

Peach  Stones  (Dice) 300 

Bowl  (Gaming) .      .  300 

VOLUME    II 

PAGE 

Map  of  Territorial  Divisions  of  New  York  Aborigines,  1600       Frontis. 
Bark  Canoe To  face       3 

Pipe     .      •     • .     .  7 

Silver  Beads To  face  8 

"  Mound  Builders "  Pipe .  8 

Earthen  Vessel 9 

Stone  Tomahawk  (Grooved  Axe) I  I 

War-club 14 

Deer-horn  War-club 14 

Tomahawk 15 

Skein  of  Slippery-elm  Filaments 16 

Burden  Strap 1 6 

Moose-hair  Burden  Strap        To  face  20 

Burden  Frame  or  Litter 21 

xxii 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Bark  Barrel    .     .' ^ 

Bark  Tray 

24 

Bird  Trap 

•      •      •      •      •      •      -.  2) 

Bark  Sap-tub 27 

Corn  Mortar 2 

Bread  Turner •  .  *  *  30 

Needle  Book TQ  face  ^ 

Pop-corn  Sieve ,  ,  j 

Snow-shoe 

Saddle       ...........  36 

Air-gun 37 

Air-gun  Arrow 27 

Flute 38 

Tobacco  Pouch m  -g 

Fawn  Skin  Bag ?g 

Fire-drill .Q 

Corn-husk  Salt  Bottle .  T 

Basket  Fish-net .  2 

Wooden  Ladle .. 

Hommony  Blade .,. 

Bark  Ladle 46 

Embroidered  Skirt To  face  48 

Silver  Ear  Ring «  j-o 

Silver  Finger  Rings «  rO 

Silver  Broach «  ,-o 

Belt  of  Wampum «  r2 

String  of  Wampum «  r2 

Silver  Medal 55 

Sea-shell  Medal 56 

Baby-frame  (frame  work) rg 

Baby-frame To  face  58 

Pin  Cushion «  82 

Deer  Skin  Leggin «  Ioo 

Deer  Skin  Shoulder  Belt «  105 

xxiii 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Work  Bag .       ,. 

Pocket  Book «  M- 

Baby-frame  Belt «  j  ,  g 

Portrait  of  Lewis  H.  Morgan  (in  photogravure)    ...       <<  153 

Diagram  of  Long  House  —  Bartram 294 

"       "      "          "       -Morgan 294 

"       "      "          "        -Lafitau 295 


XXIV 


VOLUME    I 


BOOK   FIRST 

STRUCTURE    OF   THE    LEAGUE 


GA-NO-SOTE 
or 


Interior  View  of 


League  of  the  Iroquois 

BOOK    I 

STRUCTURE    OF    THE    LEAGUE 

Chapter  I 

Introductory  Outline  —  Origin  of  the  Iroquois  —  Formation  of  the 
League  —  Intercourse  with  Europeans  —  Wars  with  the  Indian  Na 
tions —  Wars  with  the  French  —  Jesuit  Missionaries—  Number  of 
the  Iroquois  —  Fidelity  to  the  English  —  Dispersion  of  the  Nations 
—  Present  Condition  —  Future  Prospects 

AMONG  the  Indian  nations  whose  ancient  seats 
were  within  the  limits  of  our  republic,  the 
Iroquois  have  long  continued  to  occupy  the 
most  conspicuous  position.  They  achieved  for  them 
selves  a  more  remarkable  civil  organization,  and  ac 
quired  a  higher  degree  of  influence,  than  any  other 
race  of  Indian  lineage,  except  those  of  Mexico  and 
Peru.  In  the  drama  of  European  colonization,  they 
stood,  for  nearly  two  centuries,  with  an  unshaken 
front,  against  the  devastations  of  war,  the  blighting 
influence  of  foreign  intercourse,  and  the  still  more  fatal 
encroachments  of  a  restless  and  advancing  border  pop 
ulation.  Under  their  federal  system,  the  Iroquois 
flourished  in  independence,  and  capable  of  self-protec 
tion,  long  after  the  New  England  and  Virginia  races 
had  surrendered  their  jurisdictions,  and  fallen  into  the 

3 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

condition  of  dependent  nations ;  and  they  now  stand 
forth  in  our  Indian  history,  prominent  alike  for  the 
wisdom  of  their  civil  institutions,  their  sagacity  in  the 
administration  of  the  League,  and  their  courage  in  its 
defence.  When  their  power  and  sovereignty  finally 
passed  away,  it  was  through  the  events  of  peaceful  in 
tercourse,  gradually  progressing  to  this  result,  rather 
than  from  conquest  or  forcible  subjugation.  They 
fell  under  the  giant  embrace  of  civilization,  victims  of 
the  successful  warfare  of  intelligent  social  life  upon 
the  rugged  obstacles  of  nature;  and  in  a  struggle 
which  they  were  fated  to  witness  as  passive  and  silent 
spectators. 

As  there  is  no  connected  history (34)  of  the  rise, 
progress,  and  decline  of  this  Indian  League,  a  brief 
general  outline  seems  to  be  demanded,  to  refresh  the 
mind  of  the  reader,  and  to  furnish  a  proper  introduc 
tion  to  the  following  pages,  which  are  devoted  to 
an  exposition  of  its  structure,  principles,  and  spirit. 
The  eventful  history  of  this  interesting  portion  of  our 
indigenous  population  furnishes  ample  materials  for  a 
separate  work,  the  execution  of  which,  it  is  to  be 
hoped,  will  ere  long  be  accomplished  by  capable 
hands. 

At  the  era  of  Dutch  discovery  (1609),  the  Iroquois 
were  found  in  the  possession  of  the  same  territories 
between  the  Hudson  and  the  Genesee  rivers,  upon 
which  they  afterwards  continued  to  reside  until  near 
the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century.  At  that  time, 
the  Five  Nations,  into  which  they  had  become  sub 
divided,  were  united  in  a  League ;  but  its  formation 
was  subsequent  to  their  establishment  in  the  terri- 

4 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   IRO^UOIS 

tories  out  of  which  the  state  of  New  York  has  since 
been  erected. 

Their  remote  origin,  and  their  history  anterior  to 
the  discovery,  are  both  enshrouded  with  obscurity. (16) 
Tradition  interposes  its  feeble  light  to  extricate,  from 
the  confusion  which  time  has  wrought,  some  of  the 
leading  events  which  preceded  and  marked  their  polit 
ical  organization.  It  informs  us,  that  prior  to  their 
occupation  of  New  York,  they  resided  in  the  vicinity 
of  Montreal,  upon  the  northern  bank  of  the  St. 
Lawrence,  where  they  lived  in  subjection  to  the  Adi- 
rondacks,  a  branch  of  the  Algonkin  race,  then  in 
possession  of  the  whole  country  north  of  that  river. 
At  that  time,  the  Iroquois  were  but  one  nation,  and 
few  in  number.  From  the  Adirondacks  they  learned 
the  art  of  husbandry,(19)  and  while  associated  with 
them,  became  inured  to  the  hardships  of  the  war-path 
and  of  the  chase.  After  they  had  multiplied  in  num 
bers  and  improved  by  experience,  they  made  an  at 
tempt  to  secure  the  independent  possession  of  the 
country  they  occupied ;  but  having  been,  in  the 
struggle,  overpowered  and  vanquished  by  the  Adiron 
dacks,  they  were  compelled  to  retire  from  the  country, 
to  escape  extermination. (18) 

The  period  of  their  migration  from  the  north  can 
not  now  be  ascertained.  Tradition  informs  us,  that 
having  ascended  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Lake  Ontario, 
and  coasted  its  eastern  shore  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Oswego  river,  they  entered  through  this  channel  the 
central  parts  of  New  York.(17)  Their  first  settle 
ments,  they  believe,  were  located  upon  the  Seneca 
river,  where  for  a  time  they  dwelt  together.  At  a 

5 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I R O QU O 1 S 

subsequent  day  they  divided  into  bands,  and  spread 
abroad  to  found  new  villages.  One,  crossing  over 
.to  the  Mohawk,  established  itself  at  G'd-ne-ga-ha-gd^ 
below  Utica,  and  afterwards  became  the  Mohawk 
nation.  This  village,  situated  upon  the  south  side 
of  the  Mohawk  river,  in  Herkimer  county,  is  sup 
posed  to  have  been  the  oldest  settlement  of  that 
nation.  For  some  years  the  Oneidas  and  Mohawks 
were  one  nation  ;  but  one  part  of  it  having  become 
established  at  Gd-no-a-lo-hdle^  east  of  the  Oneida  lake, 
in  time  became  independent.  The  Onondagas  plant 
ing  themselves  in  the  Onondaga  valley  and  on  the 
hills  adjacent,  became  also  a  separate  nation.  In  like 
manner,  the  Cayugas  and  Senecas  were  many  years 
united,  and  resided  upon  the  Seneca  river  ;  but  one 
band  of  them  having  located  themselves  upon  the  east 
bank  of  the  Cayuga  lake,  grew  up  in  time  into  a  dis 
tinct  nation  ;  while  the  residue,  penetrating  into  the 
interior  of  western  New  York,  finally  settled  at  Nun-da- 
wa-Oy  at  the  head  of  the  Canandaigua  lake,  and  there 
formed  the  nucleus  of  the  Seneca  nation. 

The  Onondagas  have  a  legend  that  they  sprang  out 
of  the  ground  on  the  banks  of  the  Oswego  river ;  and 
the  Senecas  have  a  similar  legend,  that  they  sprang 
from  the  ground  at  Nun-da-w'd-o.  By  these  legendary 
inventions,  they  designed  to  convey  an  impression  of 
the  remoteness  of  the  period  of  their  first  occupation 
of  New  York. 

These  several  bands  were,  at  first,  obliged  to  con 
tend  with  the  various  tribes  whom  they  found  in  pos 
session  of  the  country .(20)  After  their  expulsion,  the 
interests  and  pursuits  of  the  five  nations  not  only 

6 


FORMATION    OF    THE    LEAGUE 

became  distinct,  but  the  severance  was  followed  by  a 
gradual  alienation,  finally  resulting  in  a  state  of  open 
warfare,  which  continued  for  an  unknown  period. 
The  project  of  a  League  originated  with  the  Onon- 
dagas,  among  whom  it  was  first  suggested,  as  a  means 
to  enable  them  more  effectually  to  resist  the  pressure 
of  contiguous  nations.  The  epoch  of  its  establish 
ment  cannot  now  be  decisively  ascertained ;  although 
the  circumstances  attending  its  formation  are  still 
preserved  by  tradition  with  great  minuteness.  These 
traditions  all  refer  to  the  northern  shore  of  the  Onon- 
daga  lake,  as  the  place  where  the  Iroquois  chiefs  as 
sembled  in  general  council,  to  agree  upon  the  terms 
and  principles  of  the  compact,  by  which  their  future 
destinies  were  to  be  linked  together.  It  is  evident 
from  their  traditionary  history,  which  is  entitled  to 
considerable  credit,  that  they  had  long  occupied  the 
country  before  their  necessities  or  increase  of  numbers 
made  the  League  a  feasible  or  desirable  consumma 
tion.  In  relation  to  the  period  of  its  origin,  there  are 
some  circumstances  connected  with  their  first  inter 
course  with  Europeans  tending  to  show  that  it  had 
subsisted  about  a  century  or  a  century  and  a  half  at 
the  era  of  Dutch  discovery ;  on  the  other  hand, 
their  principal  traditions  indicate  a  period  far  more 
remote.(18) 

After  the  formation  of  the  League,  the  Iroquois 
rose  rapidly  in  power  and  influence.  It  gave  them 
additional  strength  by  concentration  of  effort ;  a  con 
stant  increase  of  numbers  by  the  unity  of  the  race ; 
and  a  firmer  establishment,  through  their  more  ample 
means  for  self-protection  and  foreign  conquest.  One 

7 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I  R  O      U  O  I  S 


of  the  first  results  of  their  federal  system  was  a  uni 
versal  spirit  of  aggression  ;  a  thirst  for  military  glory 
and  political  aggrandizement,  which  made  the  old 
forests  of  America  resound  with  human  conflicts  from 
New  England  to  the  Mississippi,  and  from  the  north 
ern  confines  of  the  great  lakes  to  the  Tennessee 
and  the  hills  of  Carolina.  Unrecorded,  except  by 
tradition,  is  the  narrative  of  the  warlike  achievements 
of  this  gifted  and  progressive  race,  who  raised  them 
selves,  through  the  vicissitudes  of  incessant  strife,  to  a 
general  and  acknowledged  supremacy  over  these  bound 
less  territories.  Without  considering  the  terrible  and 
ferocious  characteristics  of  Indian  warfare,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  the  empire  which  they  reared  over 
Indian  nations,  furnishes  no  slight  evidence  of  their 
hardihood,  courage,  and  sagacity. 

With  the  first  consciousness  of  rising  power,  they 
turned  their  long-cherished  resentment  upon  the  Adi- 
rondacks,  who  had  oppressed  them  in  their  infancy  as 
a  nation,  and  had  expelled  them  from  their  country,  in 
the  first  struggle  for  the  ascendency.  This  war  raged 
for  a  long  time  with  unceasing  animosity,  and  was 
continued  nearly  fifty  years  after  the  commencement 
of  French  occupation,  until  the  descendants  of  the 
ancient  Adirondacks  were  almost  totally  extirpated. 
At  the  era  of  French  discovery  (1535),  the  latter 
nation  appear  to  have  been  dispossessed  of  their 
original  country,  and  driven  down  the  St.  Lawrence 
as  far  as  Quebec.  When  Jacques  Cartier  first  ascended 
this  river  in  1535,  the  country  about  Quebec  was  in 
the  possession  of  a  people  speaking  the  Algonkin 
language,  doubtless  the  Adirondacks,  while  the  site 

8 


INTERCOURSE    WITH     EUROPEANS 

of  Montreal  was  occupied  by  a  nation  speaking  the 
Huron  tongue,  of  which  the  language  of  the  Iroquois 
is  a  branch. (21)  After  the  permanent  occupation 
of  Canada  by  the  French,  in  1607,  the  Adirondacks 
became  their  allies  ;  but  the  protection  of  the  former 
was  insufficient  to  shield  them  against  the  hostile  visi 
tations  of  their  hereditary  enemy. 

A  new  era  commenced  with  the  Iroquois  upon  the 
establishment  of  the  Dutch  trading-post  at  Orange, 
now  Albany,  in  1615.  The  principal  Indian  nations 
upon  the  north  were  the  Hurons  and  Adirondacks  ; 
upon  the  west,  the  Eries,  Neuter  Nation,  Miamis, 
Ottawas,  and  Illinois  ;  upon  the  south,  the  Shawnees, 
Cherokees,  Catawbas,  Susquehannocks,  Nanticokes, 
Delawares,  and  some  lesser  tribes  ;  and  upon  the  east, 
the  Minsi  and  New  England  Indians.  Some  of  these 
nations  had  been  subdued  and  made  tributary.  At 
this  time,  the  Iroquois  had  grown  up  into  a  populous 
and  powerful  confederacy  and  were  rapidly  advancing 
to  a  general  supremacy  in  the  north-eastern  section  of 
the  continent.  No  Indian  race  east  of  the  Mississippi 
had  reached  such  a  position  of  authority  and  influence, 
or  were  bound  together  by  such  enduring  institutions. 
Firmly  established  upon  the  territory  of  New  York^ 
and  above  the  danger  of  displacement  from  adjacent 
nations,  they  had  already  entered  upon  that  career  of 
conquest  which  they  afterwards  prosecuted  with  such 
signal  success. 

Friendly  relations  were  established  between  the 
Iroquois  and  the  Dutch,  which  continued  without 
interruption  until  the  latter  surrendered  their  posses 
sions  upon  the  Hudson  to  the  English,  in  1664. 

9 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

During  this  period,  a  trade  sprang  up  between  them 
in  furs,  which  the  Iroquois  exchanged  for  European 
fabrics,  but  more  especially  for  firearms,  in  the  use 
of  which  they  were  afterwards  destined  to  become 
so  expert.  The  English,  in  turn,  cultivated  the  same 
relations  of  friendship  which  had  been  commenced 
with  them  by  the  Dutch.  A  "  covenant  chain  "  was 
established  between  them,  which  the  Iroquois,  with 
singular  fidelity,  preserved  unbroken,  until  the  inde 
pendence  of  the  American  states  terminated  the  juris 
diction  of  the  English  over  the  country. 

It  was  otherwise,  however,  with  the  French.  From 
the  first  to  the  last,  they  encountered  the  uncom 
promising  and  inveterate  enmity  of  the  League.  As 
early  as  1609,  Champlain,  having  ascended  through 
the  lake  which  now  bears  his  name  into  lake  George, 
accompanied  by  the  Adirondacks,  fell  in  with  a  war- 
party  of  the  Mohawks,  numbering  about  two  hundred, 
and  an  engagement  ensued  between  them  on  the 
western  shore  of  the  lake.(22)  This  was  the  first  battle 
between  the  Iroquois  and  the  Europeans,  and  the 
first  time  the  former  heard  the  sound  of  firearms, 
by  the  marvellous  power  of  which  they  were  then 
easily  vanquished.  The  French  having  allied  them 
selves  with  the  Adirondacks  and  Hurons,  given  them 
arms  and  assistance,  and  incited  them  against  the  Iro 
quois,  a  spirit  of  hatred  was  aroused  against  them, 
which  never  ceased  to  burn  until  the  final  subjugation 
of  Canada  by  the  English,  in  1760.  Besides  this  alli 
ance  with  their  ancient  enemies,  the  French  were  more 
inclined  to  resort  to  intimidation  in  their  intercourse 
with  the  Iroquois,  than  to  conciliation  and  forbearance. 


IO 


INTERCOURSE    WITH    EUROPEANS 

In  addition  to  these  errors  of  policy,  was  the  deep 
and  abiding  interest  taken  by  the  latter  in  the  country 
about  Montreal,  which  in  ancient  times  had  been  the 
home  of  their  fathers,  which  had  been  the  theatre 
of  their  first  military  success,  and  which  they  had  long 
continued  to  hold  by  the  slender  tenure  of  Indian 
conquest.(17)  As  the  rival  colonies  of  France  and  Eng 
land  were  for  many  years  nearly  equally  balanced,  the 
enmity  and  power  of  the  Hode'nosaunee  were  suffi 
cient  to  turn  the  scale  against  the  former.  To  this 
Indian  League,  France  must  chiefly  ascribe  the  final 
overthrow  of  her  magnificent  schemes  of  colonization 
in  the  northern  part  of  America. 

With  the  possession  of  firearms  commenced  not 
only  the  rapid  elevation,  but  absolute  supremacy  of 
the  Iroquois  over  other  Indian  nations.  In  1649—50, 
after  a  number  of  sanguinary  conquests,  the  Hurons 
were  overthrown  and  their  power  in  Canada  was 
destroyed.  In  1651,  they  expelled  the  Neuter  Nation 
from  the  Niagara  peninsula,  and  established  a  perma 
nent  settlement  at  the  mouth  of  that  river.  They 
nearly  exterminated,  in  1654,  the  Eries,  who  occupied 
the  south  side  of  lake  Erie  and  from  thence  east  to 
the  Genesee,  and  thus  possessed  themselves  of  the 
whole  area  of  western  New  York,  and  the  northern 
part  of  Ohio.  About  the  year  1670,  after  they  had 
finally  completed  the  dispersion  and  subjugation  of 
the  Adirondacks,  they  acquired  possession  of  the  whole 
country  between  lakes  Huron,  Erie,  and  Ontario,  and 
of  the  north  bank  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Otawas  river,  near  Montreal.  On  the  north 
shore  of  lake  Ontario  they  founded  several  villages,  in 

ii 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

the  nature  of  colonial  towns,  to  maintain  possession  of 
the  conquered  territory. 

They  also  made  constant  inroads  upon  the  New 
England  Indians,  who,  after  their  partial  subjugation 
by  the  English,  were  unable  to  cope  with  the  for 
midable  Iroquois.(<23)  About  the  year  1670,  they  com 
pelled  them  to  break  up  many  of  their  settlements, 
and  flee  for  safety  and  protection  to  the  borders  of  the 
English  plantations.  The  name  of  the  Iroquois  had 
then  become  a  terror  among  Indian  nations.  "  I  have 
been  told,"  (says  Golden)  "  by  old  men  in  New  Eng 
land,  who  remembered  the  time  when  the  Mohawks 
made  war  on  their  Indians,  that  as  soon  as  a  single 
Mohawk  was  discovered  in  their  country,  their  In 
dians  raised  a  cry  from  hill  to  hill,  a  Mohawk!  a 
Mohawk  !  upon  which  they  fled  like  sheep  before 
wolves,  without  attempting  to  make  the  least  resist 


ance." 


In  1680,  the  Senecas  with  •  six  hundred  warriors 
invaded  the  country  of  the  Illinois,  upon  the  borders 
of  the  Mississippi  river,  while  La  Salle  was  among 
the  latter,  preparing  to  descend  that  river  to  the  sea. 
So  great  was  the  dread  and  consternation  of  the  Illinois, 
that  they  were  inclined  to  abandon  their  villages,  and  re 
tire  from  the  country,  to  escape  the  fury  of  the  conquer 
ing  foe.  At  various  times,  both  before  and  after  this 
period,  the  Iroquois  turned  their  warfare  against  the 
Cherokees  upon  the  Tennessee,  and  the  Catawbas  in 
South  Carolina,  frequently  returning  from  their  distant 
expeditions  with  numerous  captives,  to  grace  the  nar 
rative  of  their  invasions.  Of  these  inroads  they  still 
preserve  many  traditions.  All  the  intermediate  coun- 


I  2 


WARS  WITH  THE  INDIAN  NATIONS 

try  between  the  Allegany  and  the  Tennessee  acknowl 
edged  their  authority,  and  the  latter  river  became  their 
southern  boundary.  War  parties  of  the  League  also 
made  irruptions  into  the  country  of  the  Miamis, 
others  penetrated  into  the  peninsula  of  Michigan,  and 
still  others  were  seen  upon  the  distant  shores  of  lake 
Superior.  No  distant  solitude  or  rugged  fastness  was 
too  obscure  or  difficult  to  escape  their  visitation  ;  no 
enterprise  was  too  perilous,  no  fatigue  too  great  for 
their  courage  and  endurance.  The  fame  of  their 
achievements  resounded  over  the  continent. 

On  the  south-east,  also,  they  extended  their  con 
quests.  As  early  as  1607,  Captain  John  Smith,  the 
founder  of  Virginia,  encountered  a  band  of  the  Iro- 
quois,  in  several  canoes,  upon  the  upper  part  of  the 
Chesapeake  bay,  then  on  their  way  to  the  territories 
of  the  Powhattan  confederacy.  The  Shawnees,  Nanti- 
cokes,  Unamis,  Delawares,  and  Minsi  were  vanquished 
one  after  another,  and  reduced  to  the  condition  of 
dependent  nations.  Even  the  Canarese  Indians,  in 
their  sea-girt  home  upon  Long  Island,  found  no  pro 
tection  against  their  attacks.  In  fact,  they  traversed 
the  whole  country  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Ten 
nessee,  and  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Mississippi. 

For  three  quarters  of  a  century,  from  the  year 
1625  to  the  year  1700,  the  Iroquois  were  involved 
in  an  almost  uninterrupted  warfare.  At  the  close  of 
this  period,  they  had  subdued  and  held  in  nominal 
subjection  all  the  principal  Indian  nations  occupying 
the  territories  which  are  now  embraced  in  the  states 
of  New  York,  Delaware,  Maryland,  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  the  northern  and  western  parts  of  Vir- 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

ginia,  Ohio,  Kentucky,  Northern  Tennessee,  part  of 
Illinois,  Indiana  and  Michigan,  a  portion  of  the  New 
England  states,  and  the  principal  part  of  Upper 
Canada.  Over  many  of  these  nations,  the  haughty 
and  imperious  Iroquois  exercised  a  constant  super 
vision.  If  any  of  them  became  involved  in  domestic 
difficulties,  a  delegation  of  chiefs  went  among  them 
and  restored  tranquillity,  prescribing  at  the  same  time 
their  future  conduct.  Some  of  these  nations,  like  the 
Delawares,  they  prohibited  from  going  out  to  war, 
having  denationalized  them  by  taking  from  them  all 
civil  powers.  According  to  the  Indian  notion,  they 
were  made  women,  and  were  henceforth  to  confine 
themselves  to  pursuits  appropriate  to  the  India'n 
female.  Such  was  the  general  awe  and  fear  inspired 
by  their  warlike  achievements,  that  they  dictated  to 
Indian  nations  their  own  terms  of  intercourse,  and  in 
sisted  upon  the  fulfilment  of  their  requirements.  In 
the  conquered  territories  they  often  established  set 
tlements  or  colonies  of  their  own  people,  to  exer 
cise  a  species  of  superintendence  over  their  acquired 
possessions. 

The  multitude  of  independent  tribes  into  which  the 
generic  stocks  of  the  continent  had  become  sub 
divided,  and  their  want  of  concert  and  unity  were 
extremely  favorable  to  the  career  of  conquest  pursued 
by  the  Iroquois.  In  their  disunited  condition,  they 
could  but  feebly  resist  the  concentrated  energies  secured 
to  the  latter  through  the  League. 

About  the  year  1700,  the  Iroquois  reached  their 
culminating  point.  They  had  reared  a  formidable 
Indian  power,  so  far  as  its  sway  over  the  aborigines 

14 


WARS  WITH   THE   FRENCH 

was  concerned,  and  in  comparison  with  any  Indian 
power  which  had  risen  north  of  the  Aztec  monarchy. 
Having  established  their  dominion  securely  against 
all  races  of  Indian  lineage,  and  strengthened  the  bonds 
of  union  among  themselves  beyond  the  power  of 
civil  dissensions,  they  would  seem  to  have  prepared 
themselves  for  a  still  higher  progress,  through  the 
pursuits  of  peace;  but  a  different  and  more  deadly 
enemy  than  the  Indian  had  already  stretched  out  its 
arms  to  enfold  them  in  its  withering  embrace. 

During  the  same  period,  or  rather  from  about  the 
year  1640  to  the  year  1700,  a  constant  warfare  was 
maintained  between  the  Iroquois  and  the  French, 
interrupted  occasionally  by  negotiations  and  brief  in 
tervals  of  peace.  As  the  former  possessed  both  banks 
of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  the  circuits  of  lakes  Erie  and 
Ontario,  they  intercepted  the  fur  trade,  which  the 
French  were  anxious  to  maintain  with  the  western 
nations.  Upon  this  trade  much  of  the  prosperity  of 
the  new  colony  depended,  for  it  furnished  the  chief 
article  of  export,  and  yielded  the  most  profitable 
returns.  But  the  war  parties  of  the  League  ranged 
through  these  territories  so  constantly,  that  it  was 
impossible  for  the  French  to  pass  in  safety  through 
the  lakes,  or  even  up  the  St.  Lawrence  above  Mon 
treal.  Their  traders  were  captured,  and  the  rich  furs 
of  the  west  not  only  became  the  spoil  of  the  victors, 
but  the  traders  themselves  were  often  led  into  captiv 
ity,  and  perhaps  to  the  stake.  So  great  was  the  fear 
of  these  sudden  attacks,  that  both  the  traders  and  the 
missionaries  were  obliged  to  ascend  the  Otawas  river 
to  near  its  source,  and  from  thence  to  cross  over  to 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

the  Sauit  St.  Marie,  and  the  shores  of  lake  Superior. 
For  these  reasons  the  French  were  extremely  anxious, 
either  to  detach  the  Iroquois  from  the  English  and 
gain  their  alliance,  or  to  reduce  them  to  subjection  by 
conquest.  They  tried  each  successively,  and  in  both 
were  equally  defeated.  The  untractable  and  politic 
Iroquois  were  averse  to  the  former,  and  too  powerful 
for  the  latter.  On  numerous  occasions  the  ambassa 
dors  of  the  League  were  at  Montreal  and  Quebec,  to 
negotiate  with  them  for  the  adjustment  of  difficulties, 
and  the  exchange  of  prisoners ;  in  some  of  which 
negotiations,  the  terms  of  a  peace,  or  at  least  of  an 
armistice,  were  agreed  upon  ;  but  these  respites  from 
warfare  were  of  short  duration.  The  ravages  com 
mitted  upon  the  settlements  of  the  French  were  so 
frequent  and  so  devastating  as  to  place  the  colony  in 
imminent  peril.  But  for  the  constant  supplies  from 
the  mother  country,  the  French  power  in  Canada 
would  inevitably  have  been  overthrown  at  several 
different  periods  prior  to  1700. 

To  retaliate  for  these  frequent  inroads,  and  to  pre 
vent  their  recurrence,  the  country  of  the  Iroquois  was 
often  invaded  by  the  French.  On  several  occasions 
they  drew  out  the  whole  force  of  the  colony,  to  devas 
tate  the  villages  of  the  League ;  but  after  the  most 
toilsome  expeditions  into  the  heart  of  the  wilderness 
of  New  York,  they  returned  without  having  accom 
plished  sufficient  to  reward  them  for  the  fatigues  and 
perils  of  the  enterprise.  The  Iroquois  invariably  re 
tired  into  the  depths  of  the  forest,  leaving  nothing  but 
their  deserted  tenements  and  fields  of  corn  to  await 
the  invader.  In  this  manner  the  unwearied  persever- 


WARS    WITH    THE    FRENCH 

ance  and  indomitable  courage  of  the  French  were  ren 
dered  futile  against  such  an  evanescent  adversary. 

In  1665,  M.  Courcelles,  governor  of  Canada,  led  a 
strong  party  into  the  country  of  the  Mohawks;  but 
the  hardships  they  encountered  rendered  it  necessary 
for  them  to  return,  without  accomplishing  their  pur 
pose.  The  next  year,  M.  De  Tracy,  viceroy  of  New 
France,  with  twelve  hundred  French  and  six  hundred 
Indians,  renewed  the  invasion  with  better  success. 
He  captured  Te-a-ton-ta-ld-ga^  one  of  the  principal 
villages  of  the  Mohawks,  situated  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Schoharie  creek  ;  but  after  destroying  the  town, 
and  the  stores  of  corn,  which  they  found  in  caches, 
they  were  obliged  to  retire  without  meeting  an  oppos 
ing  force.  Again,  in  1684,  M.  De  La  Barre,  then 
governor  of  Canada,  entered  the  country  of  the  Onon- 
dagas  with  about  eighteen  hundred  men.  Having 
reached  Hungry  bay,  on  the  east  shore  of  lake 
Ontario,  a  conference  was  had  with  a  delegation  of 
Iroquois  chiefs,  headed  by  Garangula,  the  celebrated 
Onondaga  orator.(24)  After  they  had  exchanged  re 
criminations  and  mutual  defiance,  a  species  of  armis 
tice  was  finally  agreed  upon,  and  thus  the  expedition 
ended. 

A  more  successful  enterprise  was  projected  and  car 
ried  into  execution,  in  1687,  by  M.  De  Nonville, 
then  governor  of  Canada.  Having  raised  a  force  of 
two  thousand  French  and  six  hundred  Indians,  he 
embarked  them  in  a  fleet  of  two  hundred  bateau  and 
as  many  birch  bark  canoes.  After  coasting  lake  On 
tario  from  Kingston  to  Irondequoit  bay,  in  the  terri 
tory  of  the  Senecas,  he  landed  at  the  head  of  this  bay, 


VOL.  I.  —  2 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I  R  O      U  O  I  S 


and  found  himself  within  a  few  miles  of  the  principal 
villages  of  the  Senecas,  which  were  then  in  the  coun 
ties  of  Ontario  and  Monroe.  The  nearest  village  was 
Ga-o-sd-ga'-o,  near  Victor,  in  the  county  of  Ontario, 
and  the  next  Ga-nun-da-gwa,  at  the  foot  of  the  Canan- 
daigua  lake.  Taking  the  trail  which  led  directly  to 
these  villages,  De  Nonville  marched  upon  the  first. 
After  repulsing  a  body  of  five  hundred  Senecas,  with 
whom  he  had  a  sharp  engagement,  he  took  and  de 
stroyed  the  town,  which  had  been  deserted  by  its  in 
habitants.  Meeting  with  no  further  opposition,  as 
the  Senecas  had  retired  into  the  interior,  he  marched 
southward  as  far  as  Da-yo-de-hok'-to,  a  village  situated 
at  the  bend  of  the  Honeoye  outlet,  west  of  Mendon, 
in  the  county  of  Monroe.  This  was  the  largest  vil 
lage  of  the  Senecas,  according  to  the  official  statement 
of  De  Nonville,  and  was  the  place  selected  for  the  ex 
ecution  of  the  act'e^  by  which  they  took  formal  posses 
sion  of  the  country  of  the  Seneca-Iroquois,  in  the 
name  of  France.  Four  villages,  with  their  extensive 
fields  of  corn  then  growing,  were  burned  and  devas 
tated,  after  which  the  French  army  retired. 

To  retaliate  for  this  invasion,  a  formidable  party  of 
the  Iroquois,  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  made  a  sud 
den  descent  upon  fort  Chambly,  on  the  Sorel  river, 
near  Montreal.  Unable  to  capture  the  fort,  which 
was  resolutely  defended  by  the  garrison,  they  ravaged 
the  settlements  adjacent,  and  returned  with  a  number  of 
captives.  About  the  same  time,  a  party  of  eight  hun 
dred  attacked  Frontenac,  on  the  site  of  Kingston,  and 
destroyed  and  laid  waste  the  plantations  and  establish 
ments  of  the  French  without  the  fortification.  In  July 


WARS    WITH    THE    FRENCH 

of  the  ensuing  year,  the  French  were  made  to  feel  still 
more  sensibly  the  power  of  their  revenge.  A  band  of 
twelve  hundred  warriors,  animated  with  the  fiercest  re 
sentment,  made  a  descent  upon  the  island  of  Montreal. 
They  had  covered  their  plans  with  such  secrecy,  and 
advanced  with  such  celerity,  that  the  inhabitants  had 
no  admonition  of  their  approach.  Their  first  intima 
tion  of  impending  danger  was  the  fearful  onset  of  the 
Iroquois.  Unprepared,  and  without  the  means  of 
resistance,  they  were  overpowered  and  slain  in  every 
direction.  All  that  were  without  the  fortifications  fell 
under  the  rifle  or  the  relentless  tomahawk.  Their 
houses  were  burned,  their  plantations  ravaged,  and  the 
whole  island  covered  with  desolation.  About  a  thou 
sand  of  the  French,  according  to  some  writers,  perished 
in  this  invasion,  or  were  carried  into  captivity.  When 
the  work  of  destruction  was  completed,  the  Iroquois 
retired,  bearing  with  them  the  spoils  of  the  island,  and 
about  two  hundred  prisoners. 

Overwhelmed  by  this  sudden  disaster,  the  French 
destroyed  their  forts  at  Niagara  and  Frontenac,  and 
thus  yielded  the  whole  country  west  of  Montreal  to 
the  possession  of  the  Iroquois.  At  this  critical  period 
Count  Frontenac  again  became  governor  of  Canada, 
and  during  the  short  residue  of  his  life  devoted  him 
self,  with  untiring  energy,  to  restore  its  declining  pros 
perity.  War  had  now  commenced  between  the 
English  and  French,  which  drew  his  first  attention  to 
the  defence  of  Quebec  against  the  attack  of  the  Eng 
lish  ;  but  after  this  had  been  successfully  resisted,  he 
again  sought  to  chastise  the  fierce  enemy  who  had 
so  long  disputed  with  the  French  the  possession  of 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

Canada.  In  the  winter  of  1692-3,  he  sent  a  detach 
ment  of  six  hundred  French  and  Indians  against  the 
Mohawks  ;  which,  after  travelling  through  the  dense 
forests  upon  snow-shoes,  and  encountering  almost 
insurmountable  obstacles,  finally  reached  in  safety  the 
vicinity  of  the  Mohawk  villages.  They  surprised  and 
captured  three  of  these,  took  three  hundred  prisoners, 
and  returned  with  the  loss  of  thirty  men.  Again,  in 
1696,  Count  Frontenac  conducted  an  expedition  in 
person  against  the  Onondagas  and  Oneidas,  with  a 
thousand  French  and  as  many  Indians.(25)  Having 
ascended  the  St.  Lawrence  in  bateau  and  bark  canoes, 
he  coasted  the  eastern  shore  of  the  lake,  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Oswego  river.  From  thence  he  marched  to 
the  salt  springs,  near  the  site  of  Syracuse,  and  up 
the  Onondaga  valley  to  the  principal  village  of  the 
Onondagas.  He  found  it,  as  usual,  deserted,  although 
fortified  with  palisades,  and  supplied  with  stores  of 
corn.  The  village  was  then  burned,  and  the  growing 
corn,  which  was  found  in  great  abundance  in  the  fields 
adjacent,  was  cut  down  with  the  sabre.  A  detachment 
was  then  sent  against  the  Oneidas,  under  M.  De  Vau- 
dreuil,  by  whom  their  fields  also  were  laid  waste,  after 
which  the  French  army  returned  to  Canada. 

This  was  the  last  French  invasion  of  the  territories 
of  the  Iroquois.  A  general  peace  soon  followed,  and 
continued  without  interruption,  until  the  war  of  1755, 
which  finally  resulted  in  the  conquest  of  Canada  by 
the  English,  in  ij6o.(2G} 

From  the  commencement  of  English  intercourse 
with  the  Iroquois,  down  to  the  independence  of  the 
American  states,  the  covenant  of  friendship  between 

20 


ENGLISH    INTERCOURSE 

them  remained  unbroken.  The  importance  of  con 
ciliating  this  powerful  confederacy  was  fully  appreci 
ated  by  the  colonial  authorities,  especially  during  the 
infancy  of  the  English  establishments.  Unwearied 
pains  were  taken  by  them  to  secure  and  retain  their 
favor  and  confidence.  Each  successive  governor  an 
nounced  his  arrival  to  the  Sachems  of  the  League, 
and  invited  them  to  meet  him  in  council,  at  an  early 
day,  to  renew  the  "  covenant  chain."  Each  new 
alliance  was  cemented  by  presents,  by  mutual  pro 
fessions  of  kindness,  and  by  assurances  of  mutual 
assistance.  An  intercourse  sprang  up  between  them 
in  matters  of  trade,  and  in  public  affairs,  which  con 
tinued  to  increase,  until  councils  with  the  Iroquois 
became  nearly  as  frequent  as  the  sessions  of  the 
provincial  legislature.  Independent  of  the  profitable 
trade  in  furs,  with  which  they  enriched  their  com 
merce,  they  felt  the  necessity  of  interposing  the  power 
of  the  Indian  League,  as  a  barrier  to  French  prog 
ress,  not  only  towards  their  own  settlements,  but 
also  towards  the  west.  The  French  were  constantly 
striving  to  open  an  extensive  fur  trade  with  the 
western  nations,  and  for  its  necessary  protection,  to 
extend  their  possessions  up  the  St.  Lawrence,  and 
upon  the  northern  shores  of  Lake  Ontario.  With 
the  exclusive  navigation  of  this  river  and  lake,  they 
would  have  obtained  nearly  the  absolute  control  of 
this  important  trade ;  under  the  powerful  stimulus 
of  which,  the  strength  and  prosperity  of  the  French 
colony  would  have  risen  with  such  rapidity  as  to 
threaten  the  security  of  the  English  possessions. 
Both  the  English  and  the  French  were  fully  aware 


21 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQJJOIS 

of  the  important  part  the  Iroquois  were  destined  to 
bear  in  the  drama  of  colonization  ;  but  the  former, 
by  their  superior  advantage  of  position,  and  from 
their  greater  dependence  upon  the  forbearance  of  the 
League,  were  induced  to  pursue  a  course  of  policy 
which  gained  their  unchangeable  friendship.  The 
French  would  inevitably,  if  unopposed  by  them,  have 
possessed  themselves  of  the  greater  part  of  New  York, 
and,  perhaps,  have  established  their  empire  so  firmly, 
that  the  united  forces  of  the  English  colonies  would 
have  been  unable  to  effect  their  displacement.  At 
one  period,  the  French  had  pushed  their  settlements 
up  Lake  Champlain,  until  both  sides  of  the  lake, 
as  far  up  as  the  foot  of  Lake  George,  were  covered 
with  French  grants. 

o 

A  reference,  at  least,  to  the  missionary  efforts  of 
the  French,  while  in  the  occupation  of  Canada,  ought 
not  to  be  omitted.  While  the  English  entirely  neg 
lected  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  Indians,  the  French 
were  unremitting  in  their  efforts  to  spread  Christian 
ity  among  them.(35)  The  privations  and  hardships 
endured  by  the  Jesuit  missionaries,  and  the  zeal,  the 
fidelity  and  devotion,  exhibited  by  them,  in  their 
efforts  for  the  conversion  of  the  Indian,  are  unsur 
passed  in  the  history  of  Christianity.  They  trav 
ersed  the  forests  of  America  alone  and  unprotected; 
they  dwelt  in  the  depth  of  the  wilderness,  without 
shelter,  and  almost  without  raiment;  they  passed  the 
ordeal  of  Indian  captivity,  and  the  fires  of  the  torture; 
they  suffered  from  hunger  and  violence  ;  but  in  the 
midst  of  all,  they  never  forgot  the  mission  with  which 
they  were  intrusted.  The  fruits  of  these  labors  of 

22 


JESUIT    MISSIONARIES 

Christian  devotion  are  yet  visible  among  the  descend 
ants  of  the  ancient  Iroquois  :  for  the  precepts  spread 
abroad  among  them  by  the  missionaries  are  still  in 
the  Indian  mind,  and  many  of  them  have  been  incor 
porated  by  them  into  their  own  religious  system. 
The  intercourse  of  the  French  Jesuits  with  the  Iro 
quois  furnishes,  in  some  respects,  the  most  pleasing 
portion  of  their  history. 

In  1715,  the  Tuscaroras,  having  been  expelled 
from  North  Carolina,  turned  to  the  north,  and  sought 
a  home  among  the  Iroquois,  on  the  ground  of  a 
common  origin.  That  they  were  originally  descended 
from  the  same  stock  is  sufficiently  evinced  by  their 
language.  They  we're  admitted  into  the  League  as  a 
constituent  member,  and  a  portion  of  the  Oneida  terri 
tory  assigned  to  them  as  their  future  home.  After 
this  event,  the  Iroquois,  who  had  before  been  styled 
by  the  English  the  "  Five  Nations,"  were  known 
by  them  under  the  name  of  the  "  Six  Nations." 

With  this  brief  and  barren  outline  of  prominent 
events,  the  civil  history  of  the  Iroquois,  prior  to 
1760,  is  dismissed. 

It  is  difficult  to  form  a  correct  estimate  of  their 
number;  the  opinions  of  those  having  the  best  oppor 
tunities  of  judging  have  been  so  various.  La  Hontan 
placed  them  at  seventy  thousand.  The  estimate 
made  by  Colonel  Coursey,  at  Albany,  in  1677,  gave 
them  about  fifteen  thousand  ;  but  it  is  known  that  his 
means  of  judging  were  very  imperfect.  Bancroft  esti 
mates  them,  including  the  Tuscaroras,  at  seventeen 
thousand.  Calculations  made  at  a  later  day,  after 
they  had  greatly  declined  in  number,  allowed  them 

23 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

ten  thousand.  This  was  substantially  the  estimate 
of  Sir  William  Johnson,  in  1763.  There  is  a  tradi 
tion  among  the  Senecas,  that  at  the  period  of  their 
highest  prosperity  and  numbers,  they  took  a  cen 
sus  of  their  nation,  by  placing  a  kernel  of  white 
flint  corn  for  each  Seneca,  in  a  corn  husk  basket, 
which,  from  the  description  of  its  size,  would  hold 
ten  or  twelve  quarts.  Taking  the  smallest  size,  and 
making  the  estimate  accordingly,  it  will  give  us  the 
number  of  Senecas  alone  at  17,760.  At  the  present 
time  there  are  about  seven  thousand  Iroquois  within 
the  United  States  and  Canada,  who  have  continued 
to  preserve  their  lineage  and  nationality  through  all 
their  vicissitudes.  This  appears  from  the  reports  of 
the  Indian  Department,  and  from  other  sources  of 
information/59) 

It  is  well  understood,  that  the  decline  of  the  Iro 
quois  commenced  with  their  first  intercourse  with 
Europeans.  The  possession  of  firearms,  and  their 
use  in  Indian  warfare,  the  introduction  of  ardent 
spirits  among  them,  with  its  train  of  frightful  excesses, 
and  their  incessant  conflicts  with  the  French,  and  with 
Indian  nations,  were  calculated  to  waste  them  away 
with  great  rapidity.  In  1750,  from  these  various 
causes,  they  had  become  diminished  about  one  half. 
Another  and  a  prominent  cause  of  the  decline  of  the 
Iroquois,  was  the  large  numbers  induced,  at  various 
times,  to  emigrate  to  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
under  the  influence  of  the  Jesuit  missionaries,  and 
who,  by  placing  themselves  under  French  protection, 
became  the  enemies  of  their  kindred  and  of  the 
League.  The  most  successful  colony  of  this  descrip- 

24 


NUMBER    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

tion  was  that  established  by  the  Abbe  Picquet  at 
Swe-ga-che,  on  the  site  of  Ogdensburg,  in  1749.  The 
first  year,  he  constructed  a  fort  of  palisades,  and  com 
menced  with  six  Iroquois  families ;  in  the  second 
year,  the  number  of  families  had  increased  to  eighty- 
seven,  and  in  the  third,  to  396.  Such  was  the  influx 
from  the  territories  of  the  League  to  the  new  mis 
sionary  establishment,  that,  in  1754,  the  number  of 
inhabitants  in  their  three  villages,  at  and  near  Swe- 
ga-chey  were  estimated  by  the  French  at  three  thousand. 
This  band  were  afterwards  known  as  the  "  Praying 
Indians,"  from  their  conversion  to  Christianity.  Their 
descendants  now  reside  upon  the  St.  Regis  reservation, 
in  the  county  of  St.  Lawrence. 

The  period  of  their  greatest  prosperity,  and  of  their 
highest  numbers,  was  evidently  about  the  year  1650, 
shortly  after  the  commencement  of  their  intercourse 
with  Europeans.  At  that  time,  their  total  population 
may  be  safely  placed  at  twenty-five  thousand.  A 
higher  estimate  would  be  better  supported  by  such 
data  as  the  case  affords,  than  a  lesser  one ;  although 
the  impression  of  later  writers  seems  to  be  the  con 
trary.  An  approximation  to  the  relative  strength 
of  the  several  nations  of  the  League,  upon  this  basis, 
may  be  made  by  the  following  apportionment :  To 
the  Senecas,  ten  thousand ;  to  the  Cayugas,  three 
thousand ;  to  the  Onondagas,  four  thousand ;  to  the 
Oneidas,  three  thousand ;  and  to  the  Mohawks,  five 
thousand.  A  century  later,  their  total  population  was 
probably  about  half  this  number,  the  Mohawks  having 
wasted  away  the  most  rapidly.(59) 

A  few  brief  observations  upon  the  modern  trans- 

25 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

actions  of  the  Iroquois  will  close  this  outline.  From 
the  close  of  the  French  war  until  the  commencement 
of  the  American  Revolution,  was  a  time  of  general 
peace.  The  Revolution  placed  them  in  a  position  of 
great  difficulty,  as  the  Continental  congress  negotiated 
to  secure  their  neutrality,  and  the  English  to  obtain 
their  assistance.  Their  sympathies,  as  was  anticipated, 
were  strongly  enlisted  in  favor  of  their  ancient  ally> 
with  whom,  for  upward  of  a  century,  they  had  main 
tained  an  unbroken  friendship.  They  were  thor 
oughly  English  in  sentiment.  Having  no  motive  of 
self-interest  to  engage  them  on  either  side,  neutrality 
was  the  true  policy  of  the  League  ;  more  especially, 
as  the  final  success  of  the  American  arms  might  lead 
to  the  forfeiture  of  their  country,  if  they  enlisted 
against  them.  In  the  end,  the  appeals  and  the  ap 
pliances  of  the  English  were  found  irresistible  ;  and, 
placing  their  country  and  the  homes  of  their  fathers 
in  the  event  of  the  struggle,  the  people  of  the  Long 
House  went  out  for  the  last  time  in  battle  array,  not 
to  peril  their  lives  for  themselves,  but  to  keep  the 
"  covenant  chain "  with  a  transatlantic  ally.(28) 

When  the  question  of  declaring  for  the  English 
came  before  the  council  of  sachems  and  chiefs,  the 
Oneidas  alone  resisted  the  measure,  as  unwise  and 
inexpedient.  Their  opposition  defeated  the  war 
measure,  as  an  act  of  the  League,  unanimity  being 
a  fundamental  law  in  the  legislation  of  the  Iroquois. 
But  the  course  of  events  had,  at  this  time,  greatly 
impaired  and  weakened  the  confederacy.  Their  power 
and  numbers  had  wasted  away  ;  their  political  exist 
ence,  as  an  independent  people,  was  drawing  to  its 

26 


DISPERSION    OF    THE    NATIONS 

close;  and  it  was  found  impossible,  under  the  pressure 
of  circumstances,  to  adhere  to  the  ancient  principles 
of  the  League.  It  was  finally  determined,  that  each 
nation  might  engage  in  the  war  upon  its  own  respon 
sibility  ;  so  that,  ultimately,  the  Mohawks,  Onondagas, 
Cayugas  and  Senecas  took  up  the  rifle  for  the  English. 
The  border  wars  of  the  Revolution,  in  which  the  Iro- 
quois  participated,  and  the  devastations  which  they 
committed  in  the  valleys  of  the  Mohawk  and  Susque- 
hanna,  and  their  tributaries,  are  too  familiar  to  require 
a  recital.  Their  irruptions  into  the  border  settlements 
were  so  frequent,  and  the  track  of  their  invasions  was 
marked  with  such  desolation,  that  the  American  con 
gress  were  obliged  to  send  against  them  a  powerful 
detachment,  to  lay  waste  their  villages,  and  to  over 
awe  them  with  the  fear  of  final  extirpation.  General 
Sullivan,  in  1779,  led  an  army  of  four  thousand  men 
into  the  Seneca  territory,  which  he  penetrated  as  far 
as  the  Genesee,  at  that  time  the  centre  of  their  pop 
ulation.  After  destroying  their  principal  towns,  their 
fruit  orchards,  and  stores  of  grain,  he  returned  to 
Pennsylvania ;  having  first  sent  a  detachment  into  the 
Cayuga  territory  to  ravage  their  settlements. 

The  treaty  of  peace  between  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States,  in  1783,  made  no  provision  for  the 
Iroquois,  who  were  abandoned  in  adversity  by  their 
ally,  and  left  to  make  such  terms  as  they  could  with 
the  successful  republic.(29)  A  few  years  afterwards  a 
general  peace  was  established  with  the  northwestern 
Indian  nations,  including  the  Iroquois,  all  of  whom 
had,  more  or  less,  become  involved  in  the  general 
controversy.  With  the  restoration  of  peace,  the  po- 

27 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

litical  transactions  of  the  League  were  substantially 
closed.  This  was,  in  effect,  the-  termination  of  their 
political  existence.  The  jurisdiction  of  the  United 
States  was  extended  over  their  ancient  territories, 
and  from  that  time  forth  they  became  dependent  na- 
tions.(28) 

During  the  progress  of  the  Revolution,  the  Mo 
hawks  abandoned  their  country  and  removed  to  Can 
ada,  finally  establishing  themselves  partly  upon  Grand 
river,  in  the  Niagara  peninsula,  and  partly  near 
Kingston,  where  they  now  reside  upon  two  reserva 
tions  secured  to  them  by  the  British  government. 

The  Oneidas,  notwithstanding  their  friendly  position 
during  the  war,  in  the  end  fared  little  better  than  their 
Mohawk  brethren.  A  rapid  influx  of  population,  the 
tide  of  which  set  to  the  westward  with  the  restoration 
of  peace,  soon  rendered  their  possessions  valueless. 
Negotiations  were  immediately  commenced  by  the 
State  for  the  purchase  of  their  lands,  which  they 
yielded  from  time  to  time  in  large  grants,  until  their 
original  possessions  were  narrowed  down  to  one  small 
reservation.  In  these  negotiations,  as  well  with  the 
other  Iroquois  nations  as  with  the  Oneidas,  the  policy 
of  the  State  of  New  York  was  ever  just  and  humane. 
Although  their  country,  with  the  exception  of  that  of 
the  Oneidas,  might  have  been  considered  as  forfeited 
by  the  event  of  the  Revolution,  yet  the  government 
never  enforced  the  rights  of  conquest,  but  extinguished 
the  Indian  title  to  the  country  by  purchase,  and  treaty 
stipulations.  A  portion  of  the  Oneida  nation  emi 
grated  to  a  reservation  on  the  river  Thames,  in  Can 
ada,  where  about  four  hundred  of  them  now  reside. 

28 


PRESENT    CONDITION 

Another  and  a  larger  band  removed  to  Green  Bay,  in 
Wisconsin,  where  they  still  make  their  homes  to  the 
number  of  seven  hundred.  But  a  small  part  of  the 
nation  have  remained  around  the  seat  of  their  ancient 
council-fire.  One  hundred  and  twenty-six,  according 
to  the  census  of  the  last  year,  are  now  dwelling  near 
Oneida  castle,  in  the  county  of  Oneida,  and  have 
become  fully  habituated  to  an  agricultural  life. 

Perhaps,  in  the  result,  the  Onondagas  have  been 
the  most  fortunate  nation  of  the  League.  They  still 
retain  their  beautiful  and  secluded  valley  of  Onondaga, 
with  sufficient  territory  for  their  comfortable  main 
tenance,  even  with  the  limited  production  of  Indian 
husbandry.  After  the  Revolution,  they  granted  their 
lands  to  the  State  by  treaty,  with  the  exception  of  the 
tract  they  now  occupy,  the  proceeds,  as  in  other  cases, 
being  invested  by  the  government  for  their  benefit. 
About  a  hundred  and  fifty  Onondagas  now  reside  with 
the  Senecas ;  another  party  are  established  on  Grand 
river,  in  Canada,  and  a  few  have  removed  to  the  west. 
The  total  number  still  remaining  at  Onondaga  is  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty. 

Over  the  fate  of  the  Cayugas  a  feeling  of  regret  and 
sympathy  is  awakened,  as  having  been  even  less  for 
tunate  than  their  unfortunate  kindred.  This  nation 
has  become  literally  scattered  abroad.  Immediately 
after  the  Revolution,  the  tide  of  population  began  to 
press  upon  them,  and  hem  them  in  on  every  side,  to 
such  a  degree  that  they  were  obliged  wholly  to  sur 
render  their  domain.  In  the  brief  space  of  twelve 
years  after  the  first  house  of  the  white  man  was  erected 
in  Cayuga  county  (1789)  the  whole  nation  was  up- 

29 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I R O ^U O  I  S 

rooted  and  gone.  In  1795,  they  ceded,  by  treaty,  all 
their  lands  to  the  State,  with  the  exception  of  one 
reservation,  which  they  finally  abandoned  about  the 
year  1800.  A  portion  of  them  removed  to  Green 
Bay,  another  to  Grand  river,  and  still  another,  and  a 
much  larger  band,  settled  at  Sandusky,  in  Ohio,  from 
whence  they  were  removed  by  government,  a  few 
years  since,  into  the  Indian  Territory,  west  of  the 
Mississippi.  About  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  still 
reside  among  the  Senecas,  in  western  New  York,  and 
yet  retain  their  name  and  lineage,  and  have  their  sepa 
rate  chiefs.  Those  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and  those 
residing  with  the  Senecas,  divide  between  them  the 
State  annuity  of  $2,300,  which  was  secured  to  them 
upon  the  sale  of  their  former  possessions. 

The  Tuscaroras,  after  removing  from  the  Oneida 
territory,  finally  located  near  the  Niagara  river,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Lewiston,  on  a  tract  given  to  them  by  the 
Senecas,  where  about  three  hundred  of  them  now 
reside. 

After  the  displacement  of  the  Cayugas,  the  flow  of 
population,  still  advancing  westward  with  constantly 
augmenting  force,  next  began  to  press  upon  the  broad 
domains  of  the  Senecas.  They  passed  through  the 
same  ordeal  to  which  the  other  nations  had  been  sub 
jected,  by  means  of  which  they  were  speedily  induced 
to  grant  away  their  lands,  not  by  townships  and  coun 
ties,  but  from  river  to  river,  reserving  here  and  there 
a  small  oasis,  sufficient  to  rescue  a  favorite  village  with 
its  burial-place.  Their  wide-spread  territories  were  in 
a  few  years  narrowed  down,  to  gratify  the  demands  of 
the  white  man,  until  the  residue  of  the  Senecas  are 


PRESENT    CONDITION 

now  shut  up  within  three  small  reservations,  the 
Tonawanda,  the  Cattaraugus  and  the  Allegany,  which, 
united,  would  not  cover  the  area  of  one  of  the  lesser 
counties  of  the  State.  To  embitter  their  sense  of 
desolation  as  a  nation,  the  "  preemptive  right  "  to  these 
last  remnants  of  their  ancient  possessions  is  now  held 
by  a  company  of  land  speculators,  the  Ogden  Land 
Company,(30)  who,  to  wrest  away  these  few  acres,  have 
pursued  and  hunted  them  for  the  last  fourteen  years, 
with  a  degree  of  wickedness  hardly  to  be  paralleled 
in  the  history  of  human  avarice.  Not  only  have 
every  principle  of  honesty,  every  dictate  of  humanity, 
every  Christian  precept  been  violated  by  this  company, 
in  their  eager  artifices  to  despoil  the  Senecas  ;  but  the 
darkest  frauds,  the  basest  bribery,  and  the  most  exe 
crable  intrigues  which  soulless  avarice  could  suggest, 
have  been  practiced,  in  open  day,  upon  this  defence 
less  and  much-injured  people.  The  natural  feelings 
of  man,  and  the  sense  of  public  justice  are  violated 
and  appalled  at  the  narration  of  their  proceedings.  It 
is  no  small  crime  against  humanity  to  seize  the  fire 
sides  and  the  property  of  a  whole  community,  without 
an  equivalent,  and  against  their  will ;  and  then  to  drive 
them,  beggared  and  outraged,  into  a  wild  and  inhospi 
table  wilderness.  And  yet  this  is  the  exact  scheme  of 
the  Ogden  Land  Company  ;  the  one  in  which  they 
have  long  been  engaged,  and  the  one  which  they  still 
continue  to  prosecute.  The  Georgia  treaty  with  the 
Cherokees,  so  justly  held  up  to  execration,  is  a  white 
page,  compared  with  the  treaties  of  1838  and  1842, 
which  were  forced  upon  the  Senecas.  This  project  has 
already,  however,  in  part,  been  defeated,  by  the  load 

31 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

of  iniquity  which  hung  upon  the  skirts  of  these  treaties  ; 
and  it  is  to  be  hoped,  for  the  credit  of  humanity,  that 
the  cause  of  the  Indian  will  yet  triumph,  and  that  the 
residue  of  the  Senecas  will  be  permitted  to  dwell  in 
peace  in  the  land  of  their  nativity.1 

The  census  of  last  year  fixes  the  number  of  Sen 
ecas  upon  their  then  reservations,  in  western  New 
York,  at  two  thousand  seven  hundred  and  twelve, 
A  small  band,  after  the  Revolution,  emigrated  to 
Grand  river,  where  they  now  have  a  miniature  of  the 
ancient  League,  and  another  removed  to  Sandusky, 
and  from  thence  into  the  Indian  Territory.  Those 
at  present  within  the  State  are  rapidly  improving 
in  their  social  and  moral  condition  ;  as  also,  it  is 
believed,  are  those  residing  upon  Grand  river,  in 
Canada,  where  there  are  now  about  seven  hundred 
Mohawks,  besides  five  hundred  near  Kingston,  four 
hundred  Onondagas,  seven  hundred  Cayugas,  three 
hundred  Tuscaroras,  and  two  hundred  Senecas  and 
Oneidas. 

From  the  sales  of  the  lands  of  the  Iroquois,  at  vari 
ous  times,  large  sums  of  money  have  accrued,  which 
have  been  invested  by  the  State  and  national  govern 
ments  for  their  benefit ;  and  the  interest  arising  from 
the  same  is  now  paid  over  and  distributed  among 
them  semi-annually.  The  Senecas  alone  have  an 

1  The  Buffalo  Reservation,  which  made  the  fourth  reserved  tract,  and 
was  the  most  valuable,  has  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Ogden  Company, 
but  not  so  much  by  virtue  of  the  treaties  as  by  skilful  management. 
It  contains  forty-nine  thousand  acres  of  land  bordering  the  corporate 
limits  of  the  city  of  Buffalo,  and  was  supposed  to  be  worth  over  a 
million  of  dollars.  For  the  land,  and  its  farming  improvements,  the 
Company  paid  the  Senecas  about  one  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

32 


FUTURE    PROSPECTS 

annual  income  from  these  sources,  amounting  to 
$  1 8,  ooo. 

There  are  still  residing  in  the  State  of  New  York 
about  four  thousand  Iroquois.  The  several  fragments 
of  the  nations  yet  continue  their  relationships  and 
intercourse  with  each  other,  and  cling  to  the  shadow 
of  the  ancient  League.  At  intervals  of  one  or  two 
years,  they  assemble  in  general  council  to  raise  up, 
with  their  primitive  forms  and  ceremonies,  sachems 
to  fill  vacancies  occasioned  by  death  or  deposition. 
These  councils  are  summoned  and  conducted,  in  all 
respects,  as  they  were  wont  to  be  in  the  days  of 
Indian  sovereignty.  They  still  cherish  the  remem 
brance  of  their  fathers,  and  the  institutions  which  they 
transmitted  to  them,  with  religious  affection.  In  each 
nation,  also,  with  the  exception  of  the  Oneidas  and 
Tuscaroras,  the  larger  portion  of  the  people  continue 
to  adhere  to  their  ancient  faith  and  worship; 
celebrating  their  religious  festivals  after  the  original 
method,  and  preserving,  in  their  social  intercourse, 
the  habits  and  the  customs  of  their  ancestors.  It  is 
another  singular  fact,  in  connection  with  their  history, 
that  since  their  adoption  of  agricultural  pursuits,  as 
the  exclusive  source  of  subsistence,  their  further  de 
cline  has  been  arrested,  and  they  are  now  increasing 
in  numbers.  In  many  respects  they  have  become  an 
interesting  portion  of  our  population,  yielding  many 
hopes  of  their  future  elevation.  The  policy  of  the 
State  towards  them  has  ever  been  enlightened,  hu 
mane  and  just,  the  government  seizing  upon  every 
opportunity  to  promote  their  welfare,  to  protect  their 
interests,  and  to  extend  to  them  facilities  for  education. 

VOL.  i.  — 3  33 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

It  is  a  pleasing  and  a  proud  reflection,  that  there  is 
a  universal  spirit  of  kindness,  sympathy  and  benev 
olence  towards  the  Iroquois,  among  the  people  of  New 
York.  They  would  shield  them  in  their  defenceless 
condition,  stimulate  their  efforts  for  social  improve 
ment,  encourage  their  aspirations  for  a  higher  life,  and 
finally,  when  they  have  become  sufficiently  advanced  in 
agricultural  life,  raise  them  to  the  condition  of  citizens 
of  the  State. 


The  materials  for  the  preceding  chapter  were  drawn  from 
the  following  sources  :  Colden's  Hist.  Five  Nations ;  Charle- 
voix's  Hist.  New  France  ;  Smith's  Hist.  N.  Y.  ;  Macauley's 
Hist.  N.  Y.;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y. ;  Morse's  Hist.  Am.  Rev.; 
Bancroft's  Hist.  U.  S. ;  Warburton's  Conquest  of  Canada  ; 
Marshall's  Nar.  De  Nonville's  Exped.  ;  Schoolcraft's  Notes 
on  the  Iroquois ;  Doc's  of  the  Indian  Department ;  MSS. 
Treaties  with  the  Iroquois,  State  Dep.  Alby. ;  Traditions  of 
the  Onondagas,Tuscaroras,  Senecas  and  Cayugas. 


34 


AH-TA-QUA-0-WEH  OR  MOCCASIN  FOR  MALE, 


Chapter  II 

Indian  Geography  —  Home  Country  of  the  Iroquois  —  National 
Boundaries  —  Trails  —  Indian  Map  —  Ho-de'-no-sau-nee  —  Na 
tional  Names 

OUR  Indian  geography,  excluding  lines  of  lati 
tude,   descriptions   of  soil    and   climate,   and 
precise  territorial  limits,  confines  itself  to  the 
external  features   of  the   country,  and   to  the  period 
when  the  hemlock  and  the  maple,  the  pine  and  the 
oak,  interlocked  their  branches  in  endless  alternation, 
spreading  out  from  river  to  river,  and  from  lake  to 
lake,  in  one  vast,  continuous,  interminable  forest. 

As  the  aboriginal,  or  poetic  period  of  our  territo 
rial  history  recedes  from  us,  each  passing  year  both 
deepens  the  obscurity  upon  the  Indian's  footsteps, 
and  diminishes  the  power  of  the  imagination  to  recall 
the  stupendous  forest  scenery  by  which  he  was  sur 
rounded.  To  obtain  a  glance  at  the  face  of  nature 
during  the  era  of  Indian  occupation,  the  wave  of  im 
provement  must  be  rolled  backward,  not  only  displac 
ing,  in  its  recession,  the  city  and  the  village  which  have 
sprung  up  in  the  wilderness;  but  restoring,  also,  by  a 
simultaneous  effort,  the  original  drapery  of  nature, 
when  clothed  in  her  wild  attire.1 

1  In  those  forest  days,  the  graceful  swan  folded  her  wings  in  unmo 
lested  seclusion  upon  our  inland  lakes  ;  but  with  the  departure  of  the 
Indian,  she  spread  them  again,  and  followed  him.  They  sat  upon  the 

35 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

Surrounded  by  all  the  grandeur  of  this  forest  scenery, 
the  Indian  constructed  his  Ga-no'-sote,  or  Bark  House, 
upon  the  winding  stream,  or  on  the  margin  of  the 
lake;  and,  one  of  the  multitudinous  inhabitants  of  the 
forest,  he  passed  his  days  and  years  in  sylvan  pursuits, 
unless  he  went  forth  upon  the  war-path  in  quest  of 
adventure  or  renown. 

Between  the  Hudson  and  lake  Erie,  our  broad 
territory  was  occupied  by  the  Ho-de'-no-sau-nee^  or 
Iroquois,  scattered  far  and  wide,  in  small  encampments, 
or  in  disconnected  villages.  Their  council-fires,  em 
blematical  of  civil  jurisdiction,  burned  continuously 
from  the  Hudson  to  Niagara.  At  the  era  of  Dutch 
discovery  (1609),  they  had  pushed  their  permanent 
possession  as  far  west  as  the  Genesee ;  and  shortly 
after,  about  1650,  they  extended  it  to  the  Niagara. 
They  then  occupied  the  entire  territory  of  our  State 
west  of  the  Hudson,  with  the  exception  of  certain 
tracts  upon  that  river  below  the  junction  of  the  Mo 
hawk,  in  the  possession  of  the  River  Indians,  and  the 
country  of  the  Delawares,  upon  the  Delaware  river. 
But  both  these  had  been  subdued  by  the  conquering 
Iroquois,  and  had  become  tributary  nations. 

The  villages  of  the  Mohawks  were  chiefly  located 
in  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk,  upon  the  south  side  of 
the  river.  Around  and  near  the  Oneida  lake  were  the 
principal  villages  of  the  Oneidas.  The  Onondagas 
were  established  in  the  valley  of  the  river  of  that  name, 
and  upon  the  hills  adjacent.  On  the  east  shore  of  the 

water  in  pairs,  and  not  in  flocks.  It  is  said  they  still  frequent  the  small 
lakes  in  the  wild  regions  of  northern  New  York.  The  American  swan 
(Cygnus  Americanus)  was  called  by  the  Senecas  Ah-fweh'-ah-ah. 

36 


HOME   COUNTRT  OF    THE  IROQUOIS 

Cayiiga  lake,  and  upon  the  ridge  to  the  eastward,  were 
the  settlements  of  the  Cayugas.  In  the  counties  of 
Ontario  and  Monroe  were  found  the  principal  villages 
of  the  Senecas,  the  most  populous  nation  of  the 
League.  These  were  their  chief  localities  at  the  era 
of  their  discovery.  At  a  later  period,  in  the  progress  of 
their  intercourse  and  warfare  with  the  whites,  many 
of  their  ancient  settlements  were  abandoned,  and  new 
ones  established.  This  was  especially  the  case  with 
the  Senecas,  until  their  villages,  at  various  periods, 
have  been  sprinkled  over  the  whole  area  of  western 
New  York.<89> 

This  territory,  lying  between  the  Hudson  and 
lake  Erie,  and  embracing  the  most  valuable  portions 
of  our  State,  constituted  the  Home  Country  of  the 
Iroquois,  as  distinguished  from  other  territories  upon 
the  north,  south,  east  and  west,  which  they  held  in 
subjection  by  conquest,  and  occupied  only  in  the  sea 
son  of  the  hunt.  At  the  era  of  their  highest  military 
supremacy,  about  the  year  1660,  the  Iroquois,  in 
their  warlike  expeditions,  ranged  unresisted  from 
New  England  to  the  Mississippi,  and  from  the  St. 
Lawrence  to  the  Tennessee.  They  held  under  their 
dominion  the  greater  part  of  these  vast  territories 
by  the  slender  tenure  of  Indian  conquest.  But  New 
York  was  their  hereditary  country,  the  centre  of 
their  power,  and  the  seat  of  their  council-fires.  Here 
were  their  villages,  their  fields  of  maize  and  tobacco, 
their  fishing  and  hunting  grounds,  and  the  burial- 
places  of  their  fathers.  The  Long  House,  to  which 
they  likened  their  political  edifice,  opened  its  eastern 
door  upon  the  Hudson,  while  the  western  looked  out 

37 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

upon  Niagara.  At  the  epoch  of  their  discovery, 
this  fair  domain  was  the  patrimony  of  the  Iroquois, 
the  land  of  their  nativity,  if  not  of  their  remote  origin, 
and  they  had  defended  it  against  hostile  bands  with  a 
patriotism  as  glowing  as  such  a  fair  possession  could 
inspire  in  the  heart  of  man.  They  were  not  insen 
sible  to  the  political  advantages  afforded  by  their 
geographical  position.  It  was  their  boast  that  they 
occupied  the  highest  part  of  the  continent.  Situated 
upon  the  head-waters  of  the  Hudson,  the  Delaware, 
the  Susquehanna,  the  Ohio  and  the  St.  Lawrence 
flowing  in  every  direction  to  the  sea,  they  held  within 
their  jurisdiction  as  it  were,  the  gates  of  the  country, 
and  could,  through  them,  descend  at  will  upon  any 
point.  At  the  same  time,  lake  Ontario,  and  the 
mountains  upon  the  north,  and  the  range  of  the  Alle- 
ganies  upon  the  south  gave  to  their  country  itself  an 
isolation  which  protected  them,  in  a  great  measure, 
against  the  external  pressure  of  migratory  bands ; 
while  the  lakes  and  streams,  which  in  so  remarkable 
a  manner  intersected  every  part  of  the  Long  House, 
and  whose  head-waters  were  separated  only  by  short 
portages,  and  its  continuous  valleys,  divided  by  no 
mountain  barriers,  offered  them  every  facility  for  the 
most  rapid  intercommunication.  They  themselves 
declared  that  "  their  country  possessed  many  advan 
tages  superior  to  any  other  part  of  America." 

A  boundary  line  would  seem  at  first  to  be  a  dif 
ficult  problem  in  Indian  geography.(42)  But  a  pecu 
liar  custom  of  our  predecessors  has  divested  this 
subject  of  much  of  its  embarrassment,  and  enabled 
us  to  ascertain  with  considerable  certainty  the  terri- 

38 


NATIONAL    BOUNDARIES 

torial  limits  of  the  nations  of  the  League.(5G)  The 
Iroquois  rejected  all  natural  boundaries,  and  substi 
tuted  longitudinal  lines.  This  appears  to  have  re 
sulted  from  the  custom  of  establishing  themselves 
upon  both  banks  of  the  streams  upon  which  they 
resided.  Having  no  knowledge  of  the  use  of  wells, 
they  were  accustomed  to  fix  their  habitations  upon 
the  banks  of  creeks,  and  easily  forded  rivers,  or  in 
the  vicinity  of  copious  springs.  Inland  lakes  were 
never  divided  by  a  boundary  line  ;  but  the  line  itself 
was  deflected,  that  the  entire  circuit  of  each  lake 
might  be  possessed  by  a  single  nation.  The  natural 
limits  which  rivers  and  lakes  might  furnish  having 
thus  been  disregarded,  and  straight  lines  substituted, 
the  inquiry  is  freed  from  some  of  its  difficulties,  and 
greater  certainty  is  given  to  their  boundaries,  when 
certain  points  upon  them  are  decisively  ascertained. 

After  the  expulsion  of  the  Neuter  Nation  (Je-gd- 
sa-sa]  from  the  borders  of  the  Niagara  river,  in  I65I,1 
and  of  the  Eries  (Ga-qua-ga-o-no)  from  the  country 
between  the  Genesee  and  lake  Erie  in  1655^  the 
Senecas,  who  before  these  periods  had  resided  east 
of  the  Genesee,  extended  their  jurisdiction  over  the 
whole  area  between  the  Seneca  lake  and  lake  Erie. 
On  the  east,  their  territory  joined  that  of  the  Cayugas. 
The  line  of  boundary  between  them,  which  is  well 
authenticated,  commenced  at  the  head  of  Sodus  bay, 
on  lake  Ontario,  and  running  south,  nearly  upon  the 

1  Charlevoix,  v.    i.   p.  377.      The  Neuter  Nation  were  known  to  the 
Iroquois  as  the    "Cat  Nation  ;"   the  word  itself  (Je-go' -sa-sa}  signifying 
"a  wild  cat.1'      Charlevoix  has  assigned  this  name  to  the   Eries  (v.   ii. 
p.  6z). 

2  Ib.  v.  ii.  p.  62. 

39 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I R O ^U O  I S 

longitude  of  Washington,  crossed  the  Clyde  river 
near  the  village  of  that  name,  and  the  Seneca  river 
about  four  miles  east  of  its  outlet  from  the  Seneca 
lake.  Continuing  south,  and  inclining  a  little  to  the 
east,  the  line  ran  near  the  lake  at  its  head,  and  having 
crossed  the  Chemung  river  east  of  Elmira,  it  passed 
into  Pennsylvania. 

The  territory  of  the  Cayugas  lay  upon  both  sides 
of  the  Cayuga  lake,  and  extended  to  the  eastward 
so  as  to  include  the  Owasco.  As  the  Senecas  were 
the  hereditary  "  Door-keepers  "  of  the  Long  House, 
in  their  figurative  way  of  designating  each  other,  they 
were  styled  the  first  fire  ;  and  so  on  to  the  Mohawks, 
who  were  the  fifth.  Between  the  Cayugas  and  Onon- 
dagas,  who  were  the  third  fire,  the  limital  line  is  not 
as  well  defined  ;  as  the  latter  claimed  farther  to  the 
westward  than  the  boundary  assigned.  It  commenced 
on  lake  Ontario,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Oswego  river, 
and  on  its  west  side,  and  passing  between  the  Cross 
and  Otter  lakes,  continued  south  into  Pennsylvania, 
crossing  the  Susquehanna  west  of  Owego. 

On  the  boundary  line  between  the  Onondagas  and 
Oneidas,  the  most  prominent  point  was  the  Deep 
Spring  (De-o-song'-wa)  near  Manlius,  in  the  county 
of  Onondaga.  This  spring  not  only  marked  the 
limital  line  between  them,  but  it  was  a  well  known 
stopping-place  on  the  great  central  trail  or  highway 
of  the  Iroquois,  which  passed  through  the  heart  of 
their  territories  from  the  Hudson  to  lake  Erie.  From 
the  Deep  Spring,  the  line  ran  due  south  into  Pennsyl 
vania,  crossing  the  Susquehanna  near  its  confluence 
with  the  Chenango.  North  of  this  spring  the  line  was 

40 


NATIONAL    BOUNDARIES 

deflected  to  the  west,  leaving  in  the  Oneida  territory 
the  whole  circuit  of  that  lake.  Crossing  the  She-u-ka, 
or  Oneida  outlet,  a  few  miles  below  the  lake,  the  line 
inclined  again  to  the  east,  until  it  reached  the  meridian 
of  the  Deep  Spring.  From  thence  it  ran  due  north, 
crossing  the  Black  river  at  the  site  of  Watertown,  and 
the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  eastward  of  the  Thousand 
Islands. 

The  testimony  of  the  Iroquois  concerning  this 
boundary  line  is  confirmed  by  facts  contained  in  exist 
ing  treaties.  At  the  treaty  of  Fort  Schuyler,  the 
Oneidas,  after  ceding  "  all  their  lands  to  the  people 
of  the  state  of  New  York  forever,"  reserved,  in  addi 
tion  to  their  principal  reservation,  "  a  convenient  piece 
of  land  at  the  fishing-place  in  the  Oneida  river,  about 
three  miles  from  where  it  issues  from  the  Oneida  lake, 
and  to  remain  as  well  for  the  Oneidas  and  their  pos 
terity,  as  for  the  inhabitants  of  the  said  State  to  land 
and  encamp  upon."  In  the  same  treaty  it  appears, 
that  the  Deep  Spring  was  upon  the  west  boundary 
of  the  Oneida  reservation.2 

1  Vide  Treaty   of  Fort  Schuyler,  September  22,    1788.      MSS.  State 
Department,  Albany. 

2  Judge  Jones  of  Utica,  in  1846,  in  a  letter  in  the  author's  possession, 
speaks   of  this  spring  as   follows  :    "  Near  the  summit  of  what  was  for 
merly  called   the   Canaseraga   hill,   near   where   now  runs  the  road  from 
Chittenango  to   Manlius,  is  a  large,  well-known  ever-living  spring,  famil 
iarly    known    as  the  'Big    Spring.'      The   excavation,  whether   made   by 
Omnipotence,  or  by  human  hands,  may  be  fifteen  feet    in    diameter,  and 
several  feet  deep,  with  sloping  sides,  easy  of  descent,  and   in  the  bottom 
is  a  reservoir  ever  full.      What  is  quite  singular  is,  that  the  water  runs  in 
at  the  lower,  and  disappears   at  the  upper  side   of  the  reservoir.      This 
spring,  while  the  old  woods  were   its  shade,  and  the  wild  deer   descended 
to  taste  its  limpid  waters,   was  long  the  favorite  meeting-place   between 
the  Oneidas  and  Onondagas.      Here  for  ages  had  the  old  men  of  the  two 

41 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I R O QU O I S 

The  Tuscaroras,  upon  their  expulsion  from  North 
Carolina,  in  1712,  turned  to  the  north,  and  sought 
the  protection  of  the  Ho-de-no-sau-nee^  on  the  ground 
of  generic  origin.  They  were  admitted  into  the 
League  as  the  Sixth  nation,  and  were  ever  afterwards 
regarded  as  a  constituent  member  of  the  confed 
eracy,  although  never  admitted  to  a  full  equality/ m) 
A  portion  of  the  Oneida  territory  was  assigned  to 
them,  lying  upon  the  Unadilla  river  on  the  east, 
the  Chenango  on  the  west,  and  the  Susquehanna  on 
the  south.  Whether  they  occupied  entirely  across  the 
southern  skirt  of  the  Oneida  territory,  as  their  boun 
dary  is  run  upon  the  accompanying  map,  is  a  matter 
of  doubt,  as  the  Oneidas  might  thereby  have  cut  off 
their  southern  possessions  in  Pennsylvania  and  Vir 
ginia.  To  these  southern  lands  the  Tuscaroras  had 
no  title,  and  it  is  probable  that  their  territorial  rights, 
which  were  never  absolute,  were  restricted  between 
the  Unadilla  and  the  Chenango.  The  Oneidas,  as  the 
original  owners  of  this  tract,  were  made  a  party,  with 
the  Tuscaroras,  to  the  treaty  of  Fort  Herkimer,  in 
1785,  by  which  it  was  ceded  to  the  State.1  The 
Tuscaroras  were  partially  scattered  among  the  other 
nations,  although  they  continued  to  preserve  their 
nationality.  They  had  some  settlements  at  a  later 
day  near  the  Oneida  lake,  a  village  at  the  inlet  of  the 
Cayuga,  and  one  in  the  valley  of  the  Genesee,  below 
Avon.  At  a  subsequent  period,  the  Senecas  gave 

nations  met  to  rehearse  their  deeds  of  war  ;  here  the  young  braves 
met  in  friendly  conclave.  .  .  .  This  was  the  boundary  between  the 
nations." 

1  Vide  Treaty  of  Fort  Herkimer,  June  28,  1785.      MSS.  State  Dep. 

42 


NATIONAL    BOUNDARIES 

them  a  tract  upon  the  Niagara  river,  where  they  after 
wards  removed ;  and  their  descendants  still  occupy  a 
reserved  portion  of  this  land,  near  Lewiston,  in  the 
county  of  Niagara. 

There  were  two  other  small  bands,  or  remnants  of 
tribes,  located  within  the  territories  of  the  Oneidas  ; 
the  Mohekunnuks,  situated  a  few  miles  south  of 
Oneida  castle,  and  the  New  England  Indians,  south 
of  Clinton.  For  these  lands  they  also  were  indebted 
to  the  generosity  of  the  Oneidas,  to  whom,  as  refu 
gees,  they  applied  for  "  a  place  to  spread  their  blan 
kets  ;  "  and  their  possessions  were  subsequently  se 
cured  to  each  band  by  treaty. 

Of  the  several  boundaries,  that  between  the  Oneidas 
and  the  Mohawks  is  the  most  difficult  to  establish  ; 
there  being  a  disagreement  between  the  line  of  boun 
dary  as  given  by  the  Iroquois,  and  that  indicated, 
although  imperfectly,  by  existing  treaties.  According 
to  their  own  evidence,  and  it  is  the  safest  authority, 
this  line  came  down  from  the  north  near  the  west 
boundary  of  Herkimer  county,  and,  crossing  the 
Mohawk  about  five  miles  below  Utica,  continued 
south  into  Pennsylvania.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
appears  from  various  treaties  with  the  Oneidas,  that 
they  sold  lands  to  the  State  on  both  sides  of  the 
Mohawk,  as  low  down  as  Herkimer  and  the  German 
Flats,  and  also  on  the  Mohawk  branch  of  the  Dela 
ware,  as  far  east  as  Delhi.  After  the  departure  of 
the  Mohawks,  the  Oneidas  might  have  asserted  claims 
against  the  State,  which  they  would  not  against  their 
brethren ;  so  also  the  State  may  have  preferred  to 
include  these  lands,  to  prevent  all  future  disputation. 

43 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROgJJOIS 

The  upper  castle  of  the  Mohawks,  Gd-ne-ga-ha-gd^ 
was  situated  in  the  town  of  Danube,  Herkimer  county, 
nearly  opposite  the  junction  of  the  West  Canada  creek 
with  the  Mohawk.  From  these  facts,  the  boundary 
given  may  be  regarded  as  the  most  reliable.  The 
territory  of  the  Mohawks  extended  to  the  Hudson 
and  lake  Champlain  on  the  east,  with  the  exceptions 
before  mentioned,  and  northward  to  the  St.  Lawrence. 

Such  were  the  territorial  divisions  between  the  sev 
eral  nations  of  the  League.  In  their  hunting  excur 
sions  they  were  accustomed  to  confine  themselves  to 
their  own  domains  :  which,  to  a  people  who  subsisted, 
in  part,  by  the  chase,  was  a  matter  of  some  moment. 
Upon  their  foreign  hunting  grounds,  which  were 
numerous  and  boundless,  either  nation  was  at  liberty 
to  encamp.  By  establishing  these  territorial  limits 
between  the  nations  of  the  League,  the  political  in 
dividuality  of  each  was  continued  in  view. 

In  intimate  connection  with  our  Indian  geography 
are  the  Trails,  or  forest  highways  of  the  Iroquois.(41) 
A  central  trail  passed  through  the  State  from  east  to 
west,  intersected  at  numerous  points  by  cross  trails, 
which  passed  along  the  banks  of  the  lakes  and 
rivers.  It  commenced  at  the  site  of  Albany  on  the 
Hudson,  and  having  touched  the  Mohawk  at  Sche- 
nectady,  it  followed  up  this  river  to  the  carrying- 
place  at  Rome.  From  thence,  proceeding  westward, 
it  crossed  the  Onondaga  valley,  the  foot  of  the 
Cayuga  and  of  the  Seneca  lakes,  the  Genesee  valley 

1  This  was,  doubtless,  the  oldest  village  of  the  Mohawks  ;  as  it  is 
the  one  from  which  the  nation  takes  its  name.  It  is  Ga-ne-d'-ga  in 
the  Seneca  dialect.  (42) 

44 


AH     TA    QUA    0    WEH    OR    MOCCASON 
Emhroi d ered  with  porcupine  guilts 


TRAILS 

at  Avon,  and  finally  came  out  upon  the  Buffalo 
creek,  at  the  site  of  Buffalo.  This  route  of  travel 
was  so  judiciously  selected,  that  after  the  country 
was  surveyed,  the  turnpikes  were  laid  out  upon  the 
Indian  highway,  with  slight  variations,  through  the 
whole  length  of  the  State.(44)  This  trail  not  only  con 
nected  the  principal  villages  of  the  Iroquois,  but 
established  the  route  of  travel  into  Canada  on  the 
west,  and  over  the  Hudson  on  the  east.  The  pur 
suits  of  trade,  and  the  development  of  the  resources 
of  the  country  in  modern  times  have  shown  this 
to  be  one  of  the  great  natural  highways  of  the  conti 
nent.  It  appears  now  to  be  indicated  by  the  geo 
graphical  features  of  the  territory  ;  but  as  extensive 
intercourse  was  necessary  to  its  discovery,  the  es 
tablishment  of  this  great  route  of  travel  furnishes  evi 
dence  of  a  more  general  intercourse  of  the  Iroquois 
with  the  east  and  west,  than  has  ever  been  ascribed 
to  them. 

Upon  the  banks  of  the  Susquehanna  and  its 
branches,  the  sources  of  which  are  near  the  Mohawk, 
and  upon  the  banks  of  the  Chemung  and  its  tribu 
taries,  which  have  their  sources  near  the  Genesee, 
were  other  trails,  all  of  which  converged  upon  Tioga, 
at  the  junction  of  these  two  principal  rivers.  They 
became  thus  gathered  into  one,  which,  descending  the 
Susquehanna,  formed  the  great  southern  trail  into 
Pennsylvania  and  Virginia. 

For  centuries  upon  centuries,  and  by  race  after 
race,  these  old  and  deeply  worn  trails  had  been  trod 
by  the  red  man.  From  the  Atlantic  to  the  Missis 
sippi,  and  from  the  northern  lakes  to  the  Mexican 

45 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

gulf,  the  main  Indian  routes  through  the  country 
were  as  accurately  and  judiciously  traced,  and  as 
familiar  as  our  own.  On  many  of  these  distant  foot 
paths  the  Iroquois  had  conducted  warlike  expedi 
tions,  and  had  thus  become  practically  versed  in  the 
geography  of  the  country.  Within  their  immediate 
territories,  they  were  quite  as  familiar  with  the  geo 
graphical  features,  the  routes  of  travel,  the  lakes, 
and  hills  and  streams,  as  we  ourselves  have  since 
become. 

In  the  accompanying  map,  an  attempt  has  been 
made  to  restore  the  geographical  names  of  the  Iro 
quois,  as  they  stood  at  the  period  of  its  date  (1720). 
Many  of  our  own  names  have  their  radices  in  the 
dialects  of  the  Iroquois ;  and  as  to  such  names,  this 
map  is  designed  to  furnish  an  index  of  their  origin 
and  signification.  Our  geography  is  as  yet  incom 
plete  in  the  christening  of  some  of  the  features  of 
nature,  while  some  of  the  names  in  actual  use  might 
be  profitably  exchanged  for  the  aboriginal;  in  both 
of  which  cases  such  a  map  will  at  least  offer  a  choice. 
The  date  given  to  it  introduces  some  anachronisms, 
which  will  be  obvious  to  the  critical  eye ;  but  these 
do  not  furnish  a  sufficient  reason  for  an  earlier,  or 
a  later  date.  The  descendants  of  the  Iroquois  have 
preserved,  with  great  fidelity,  the  names  of  their 
ancient  localities ;  and  have  bestowed  them  upon  our 
cities  and  villages  as  they  have  successively  appeared. 
It  is  but  a  fit  tribute  to  our  Indian  predecessors,  to 
record  the  baptismal  names  of  our  rivers,  lakes  and 
streams,  and  also  of  their  ancient  sites. 

An  effort    has  been  made  to  furnish  these  names 

46 


INDIAN    MAP 

in  the  particular  dialect  of  the  nation  within  whose 
territories  the  places  or  objects  named  were  situated ; 
and,  with  a  few  exceptions,  this  has  been  accomplished. 
The  nations  spoke  different  dialects  of  a  common 
language;  and  although  they  could  understand  each 
other  with  readiness,  the  distinctions  between  them 
were  very  decisive.  These  dialectical  differences  are 
more  strongly  marked  in  their  geographical  names 
than  in  the  body  of  the  several  dialects  themselves; 
furnishing,  perhaps,  the  principal  reason  why  these 
names  are  written  so  variously.  Thus  the  Iroquois 
name  of  Buffalo,  in  the  Seneca  dialect  is,  Do-sho'-weh, 
in  Cayuga  De-o-sho'-weh,  in  Onondaga  De-o-sa-wehy  in 
Oneida  De-ose'-lole,  in  Mohawk  De-o-hose-lole  and 
in  Tuscarora  Ne-o-thro'-rd.  For  the  same  purpose, 
and  in  the  same  order,  the  variations  in  the  name 
of  Utica  may  be  cited  :  Nun-da-da-sis,  Nun-da-da '-ses, 
N one-da-da -sis ^  Ya-nun-da-da-sis,  Yo-none-da-sis,  Ya- 
nun-ria-rats.  The  resemblances  in  these  examples  are 
nearer  than  they  are  usually  found.  In  the  transi 
tion  of  these  names  from  the  unwritten  dialects  of 
the  Iroquois  into  our  language,  they  lose  much  of 
their  euphony,  and  the  force  of  their  accent.  It 
would  therefore  be  difficult  to  judge  of  the  language 
itself  from  these  specimens.  That  entire  accuracy 
has  been  attained  in  the  spelling  of  these  words  is 
not  expected.  Indeed,  many  of  their  elementary 
sounds,  in  the  manner,  and  in  the  combination  in 
which  they  use  them,  it  is  impossible  to  express 
with  our  letters.  But  they  are  as  nearly  accurate, 
as  the  frequent  repetition  of  each  name  by  the  native 
speaker,  that  the  sound  of  each  syllable  might  be 

47 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

obtained,  together  with  a  careful  revision  of  the 
whole,  would  enable  the  author  to  make  them.  In 
the  Appendix  A.  i,  will  be  found  a  table,  contain 
ing  a  list  of  all  the  names  upon  the  map,  arranged 
by  counties,  with  the  signification  of  each.  As  the 
county  lines  are  dotted  on  the  map,  it  will  be  easy 
to  refer  to  any  locality. 

The  trails (41)  (Wa-a-gwen-ne-yuH)^  or  highways  of 
travel  pursued  by  our  predecessors,  are  also  traced 
upon  the  map.(42)  Among  the  number  will  be  found 
the  great  central  trail  from  the  site  of  Albany  to 
that  of  Buffalo,  which  is  traced  minutely  from  point  to 
point,  throughout  its  whole  extent. 

It  remains  to  notice  the  origin  and  signification  of 
the  names  of  the  several  nations.  After  the  forma 
tion  of  the  League,  the  Iroquois  called  themselves  the 
Ho-de'-no-sau-nee^  which  signifies  "  the  people  of  the 
long  house."  It  grew  out  of  the  circumstance,  that 
they  likened  their  confederacy  to  a  long  house,  having 
partitions  and  separate  fires,  after  their  ancient  method 
of  building  houses,  within  which  the  several  nations 
were  sheltered  under  a  common  roof.  Among  them 
selves  they  never  had  any  other  name.  The  vari 
ous  names  given  to  them  at  different  periods  were 
entirely  accidental,  none  of  them  being  designations 
by  which  they  ever  recognized  themselves.(12G) 

The  Senecas  called  themselves  the  Nun-da-wa-o-no^ 
which  signifies  "  the  great  hill  people."  Nun-da- 
wa-O)  the  radix  of  the  word,  means  "  a  great  hill,"  and 
the  terminal  syllables,  o-no,  convey  the  idea  of  "  peo 
ple."  This  was  the  name  of  their  oldest  village,  sit 
uated  upon  a  hill  at  the  head  of  the  Canandaigua  lake, 

48 


NATIONAL    NAMES 

near  Naples,  where,  according  to  the  Seneca  fable, 
they  sprang  out  of  the  ground. 

Gue'-u-gweh-o-no,  the  name  of  the  Cayugas,  signifies 
"  the  people  at  the  mucky  land ; "  the  root  of  the 
word  literally  meaning  "  the  mucky  land.'*  It  doubt 
less  referred  to  the  marsh  at  the  foot  of  the  Cayuga 
lake,  near  which  their  first  settlement  was,  in  all  prob 
ability,  established. 

O-nun-da-ga,  the  origin  of  the  name  of  the  Onon- 
dagas,  signifies  "  on  the  hills ;  "  hence  the  name  they 
gave  themselves,  0-nun-da-ga-o-no,  is  rendered  "  the 
people  on  the  hills."  It  appears  from  various 
authors,  that  their  principal  village,  at  the  era  of  their 
discovery,  was  on  one  of  the  eminences  overlooking 
the  Onondaga  valley. 

The  Oneidas  have  been  so  long  distinguished  as 
"the  people  of  the  stone,"  that  it  is  perhaps  venture 
some  to  suggest  a  change.  O-na-yote-ka,  however,  the 
radix  from  which  their  name  is  derived,  signifies  not 
only  "  a  stone/'  but  one  of  the  species  known  to  us 
as  granite.  In  the  Seneca  dialect,  it  means  this  par 
ticular  rock  ;  hence  the  propriety  of  rendering  literally 
their  national  name,  O-na-yote'-ka-o-no,  "  the  granite 
people." 

There  is  doubt  about  the  signification  of  the  name 
of  the  Mohawks,  Ga-ne-a-ga-o-no,  from  the  fact  that 
the  Oneidas,  Onondagas  and  Senecas  have  lost  its 
meaning. (70)  But  the  Mohawks  render  the  root 
of  the  word,  "  the  possessor  of  the  flint,"  without 
being  able  to  give  any  further  explanation.  It  is  to 

1  The  original   Oneida  Stone,  now  in  the  cemetery  at  Utica,  is  said  to 
be  a  boulder  of  granite. 

VOL.  L  — 4  49 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

be  observed,  however,  that  the  word  as  given  by  the 
latter,  Ga-ne-ga-ha-ga,  has  one  syllable  more  than  the 
corresponding  word  in  Seneca,  which  may  account  for 
the  loss  of  its  signification.  In  a  report  enumerating 
our  Indian  nations,  ascribed  to  M.  De  Joncaire,  is  the 
following  passage  bearing  upon  this  subject :  "  The 
Mohawks  have  for  a  device  of  the  village  a  steel  and  a 
flint"  1  The  possession  of  such  a  novelty  may  have 
been,  at  an  early  day,  sufficient  to  change  not  only 
the  name  of  the  village,  but  also  of  the  nation. 

The  name  of  the  Tuscaroras,  Dus-ga-o'-weh,  is  ren 
dered  "  the  shirt-wearing  people ;  "  and  was  a  name 
adopted  before  their  emigration  from  Carolina,  and 
after  the  commencement  of  their  intercourse  with  the 
whites.  All  of  the  preceding  names  are  given  in  the 
Seneca  dialect  to  preserve  uniformity ;  as  not  only 
the  terminations,  but  the  radices  themselves  are  differ 
ent  in  the  several  dialects. (129) 

The  geographical  names,  the  courses  of  the  trails, 
and  the  locations  of  the  villages  of  the  Iroquois,  will 
be  more  particularly  considered  in  a  subsequent 
chapter. 

1  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  v.  i.  p.  22. 


5° 


GA-KA  OR  BREECH  CLOTH, 


Chapter  III 

Interest  in  our  Predecessors  —  The  Hunter  State  —  Its  Institutions 
Transitory  —  Origin  of  the  League  —  Sachemships  —  Hereditary 
Titles  —  Council  of  the  League  —  Equality  of  the  Sachems  — 
Chiefs  —  Military  Chieftains  —  Popular  Influence  —  Unity  of  the 
Race 
^ 

THE  social  history  and  political  transactions  of 
the  Indian  are  as  easily  enveloped  in  obscur 
ity,  as  his  footsteps  through  the  forest  are 
obliterated  by  the  leaves  of  autumn.  Nation  upon 
nation,  and  race  after  race  have  sprung  up  and  hast 
ened  onward  to  their  fall ;  and  neither  the  first  nor 
the  last  could  explain  its  origin,  or  number  the  years 
of  its  duration. 

From  this  general  uncertainty  of  knowledge  which 
surrounds  our  Indian  races,  we  turn  with  some  degree 
of  encouragement  to  the  Iroquois,  the  last  in  the  order 
of  succession  which  exercised  dominion  over  the  ter 
ritories  out  of  which  New  York  was .  erected.  We 
stand  with  them  in  many  interesting  relations.  Hav 
ing  flourished  side  by  side  with  our  early  population, 
the  events  of  their  decline  became  interwoven  with 
our  civil  affairs ;  and  having  finally  yielded  up  their 
sovereignty,  from  the  rulers  of  the  land,  they  became 
dependent  nations,  dwelling  under  the  protection  of 
the  government  which  displaced  them. 

To  the  Iroquois,  by  common  consent,  has  been  as 
signed  the  highest  position  among  the  Indian  races  of 

51 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

the  continent  living  in  the  hunter  state.  In  legisla 
tion,  in  eloquence,  in  fortitude  and  in  military  sagacity 
they  had  no  equals.  "  No  frightful  solitude  in  the 
wilderness,  no  impenetrable  recess  in  the  frozen  north  " 
was  proof  against  their  courage  and  daring.  Spice 
offered  no  protection,  distance  no  shelter  from  their 
war  parties,  which  ranged  equally  the  hills  of  New  Eng 
land,  the  declivities  of  the  Alleganies,  the  prairies  of  the 
Mississippi,  and  the  forests  of  the  Tennessee.  In  the 
establishment  of  a  League  for  the  double  purpose  of 
acquiring  strength  and  securing  peace,  their  capacity  for 
civil  organization,  and  their  wisdom  in  legislation  were 
favorably  exhibited.  During  the  expansion  of  the 
power  of  the  Iroquois,  from  the  commencement  of  the 
seventeenth  to  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  centuries, 
there  sprang  up  among  them  a  class  of  orators  and  chiefs, 
unrivalled  among  the  red  men  for  eloquence  in  council, 
and  bravery  upon  the  war-path.  In  a  word,  the  League 
of  the  Iroquois  exhibited  the  highest  development  of 
the  Indian  ever  reached  by  him  in  the  hunter  state. 

Many  circumstances  thus  unite  to  invest  its  history 
with  permanent  interest.  An  analysis  of  its  civil  and 
domestic  institutions  will  exhibit  all  the  elements  of 
Indian  society,  and  of  Indian  life,  throughout  the  re 
public.  From  the  higher  legislation  of  the  Iroquois, 
and  the  increased  weight  and  diversity  of  affairs  under 
the  League,  there  resulted  a  fuller  manifestation  of  the 
Indian  character  than  is  to  be  found  in  any  other  race 
except  the  Aztec.  Their  institutions  contain  the  sum 
and  substance  of  those  of  the  whole  Indian  family. 
While,  however,  their  political  events  have  been  dili 
gently  collected  and  arranged,  the  government  which 

52 


THE    HUNTER    STATE 

they  constructed,  the  social  ties  by  which  they  were 
bound  together,  and  the  motives  and  restraints  by 
which  they  were  influenced  have  scarcely  been  made 
subjects  of  inquiry,  and  never  of  extended  investiga 
tion.  The  League  of  the  Iroquois,  dismembered  and 
in  fragments,  still  clings  together  in  the  twilight  of  its 
existence,  by  the  shreds  of  that  moral  faith,  which  no 
political  misfortunes  could  loosen,  and  no  lapse  of 
years  could  rend  asunder.  There  are  reasons  for  this 
spectacle,  which  no  mere  alliance  of  nations  can  explain, 
and  which  history  has  hitherto  failed  to  reach.  It  is  not 
the  purpose  of  this  work  to  narrate  their  political  events  ; 
but  to  inquire  into  the  structure  and  spirit  of  the  gov 
ernment,  and  the  nature  of  the  institutions,  under  and 
through  which  these  historical  results  were  produced. 

In  entering  upon  such  a  theme  of  inquiry  as  an 
Indian  organization,  there  are  some  general  considera 
tions  which  press  upon  the  attention,  and  which  are 
worthy  of  previous  thought.  By  the  formation  of 
societies  and  governments,  mankind  are  brought  largely 
under  the  influence  of  the  social  relations,  and  their 
progress  has  been  found  to  be  in  exact  proportion  to 
the  wisdom  of  the  institutions  under  which  their  minds 
were  developed.  The  passion  of  the  red  man  for  the 
hunter  life  has  proved  to  be  a  principle  too  deeply  in 
wrought,  to  be  controlled  by  efforts  of  legislation.  His 
government,  if  one  was  sought  to  be  established,  must 
have  conformed  to  this  irresistible  tendency  of  his 
mind,  this  inborn  sentiment ;  otherwise  it  would  have 
been  disregarded.  The  effect  of  this  powerful  prin 
ciple  has  been  to  enchain  the  tribes  of  North  America 
to  their  primitive  state.  Another  effect  of  this  prin- 

53 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

ciple,  and  still  more  fatal  to  their  political  prosperity, 
is  to  be  found  in  the  repeated  subdivisions  of  the 
generic  stocks  of  the  continent,  by  which  all  large 
accumulations  of  numbers  and  power,  in  any  race  or 
nation,  have  been  prevented.  Whenever  a  hunting- 
ground  became  too  thickly  populated  for  the  easy  sub 
sistence  of  its  occupants,  a  band,  under  some  favorite 
chief,  put  forth,  like  the  swarm  from  the  parent  hive, 
in  quest  of  a  new  habitation  ;  and  in  course  of  time 
became  independent.  We  have  here  the  true  reason, 
why  the  red  race  has  never  risen,  nor  can  rise  above 
its  present  level.  The  fewness  of  the  generic  stocks, 
the  unlimited  number  of  independent  tribes,  and  their 
past  history  establish  the  correctness  of  this  position. 
It  is  obvious  that  the  founders  of  the  League  were 
aware  of  the  enfeebling  effects  of  these  repeated  sub 
divisions,  and  sought,  by  the  counter  principle  of 
federation,  to  arrest  the  evil.  They  aimed  to  knit  the 
whole  race  together  under  such  a  system  of  relation 
ships,  that,  by  its  natural  expansion,  an  Indian  empire 
would  be  developed,  of  sufficient  magnitude  to  control 
surrounding  nations,  and  thus  secure  an  exemption 
from  perpetual  warfare.  We/nust  regard  it,  therefore, 
as  no  ordinary  achievement,  that  the  legislators  of  the 
Iroquois  united  the  several  tribes  into  independent 
nations,  and  between  these  nations  established  a  per 
fect  and  harmonious  union.  And  beyond  this,  that 
by  a  still  higher  effort  of  legislation,  they  succeeded  in 
so  adjusting  the  confederacy,  that  as  a  political  fabric 
composed  of  independent  parts,  it  was  adapted  to  the 
hunter  state,  and  yet  contained  the  elements  of  an 
energetic  government.(10) 

54 


ITS    INSTITUTIONS    TRANSITORT 

It  is  another  singular  feature,  in  connection  with 
Indian  organizations,  that  their  decline  and  fall  are 
sudden,  and  usually  simultaneous.  A  rude  shock 
from  without  or  within  but  too  easily  disturbs  their 
inter-relations  ;  and  when  once  cast  back  upon  the 
predominating  sentiment  of  Indian  life,  the  hunter 
inclination,  a  powerful  nation  rapidly  dissolves  into  a 
multitude  of  fragments,  and  is  lost  and  forgotten  in 
the  undistinguished  mass  of  lesser  tribes.  But  the 
League  of  the  Iroquois  was  subjected  to  a  severer  test. 
It  went  down  before  the  Saxon,  and  not  the  Indian 
race.  If  it  had  been  left  to  resist  the  pressure  of  sur 
rounding  nations,  living,  like  the  Iroquois  themselves, 
a  hunter  life,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  it  would 
have  subsisted  for  ages  ;  and  perhaps,  having  broken 
the  hunter  spell,  would  have  introduced  civilization 
by  an  original  and  spontaneous  movement. 

Of  the  Indian  character  it  is  an  original  peculiarity, 
that  he  has  no  desire  to  perpetuate  himself  in  the 
remembrance  of  distant  generations,  by  monumental 
inscriptions,  or  other  erections  fabricated  by  the  art 
and  industry  of  man.-  The  Iroquois  would  have 
passed  away  without  leaving  a  vestige  or  memorial  of 
their  existence  behind,  if  to  them  had  been  intrusted 
the  preservation  of  their  name  and  deeds.  A  verbal 
language,  a  people  without  a  city,  a  government  with 
out  a  record,  are  as  fleeting  as  the  deer  and  the  wild 
fowl,  the  Indian's  co-tenants  of  the  forest.  With  the 
departure  of  the  individual,  every  vestige  of  Indian 
sovereignty  vanishes.  He  leaves  but  the  arrow-head 
upon  the  hillside,  fit  emblem  of  his  pursuits  ;  and  the 
rude  pipe  and  ruder  vessel  entombed  beside  his 

55 


LEAGUE    OF  THE    IRO^UOIS 

bones  —  at  once  the  record  of  his  superstition,  and  the 
evidence  of  his  existence.  If  the  red  man  had  any 
ambition  for  immortality,  he  would  intrust  his  fame  to 
the  unwritten  remembrance  of  his  tribe  and  race, 
rather  than  to  inscriptions  on  columns  in  his  native 
land,  or  other  monument  more  durable  than  brass, 
which  neither  wasting  rain,  nor  raging  wind,  nor  flight 
of  time  could  overthrow.1 

Since  this  race  must  ever  figure  upon  the  opening 
pages  of  our  territorial  history,  and  some  judgment  be 
passed  upon  them,  it  becomes  our  duty  to  search  out 
their  government  and  institutions,  and  to  record  with 
impartiality  their  political  transactions ;  lest,  in  addi 
tion  to  the  extinguishment  of  their  Council  Fires,  we 
subject  their  memory,  as  a  people,  to  an  unjust  and 
unmerited  judgment. 

Upon  an  extended  examination  of  their  institutions, 
it  will  become  apparent,  that  the  League  was  estab 
lished  upon  the  principles,  and  was  designed  to  be  but 
an  elaboration,  of  the  Family  Relationships.  These 
relations  are  older  than  the  notions  of  society  or 
government,  and  are  consistent  alike  with  the  hunter, 
the  pastoral  and  the  civilized  state.  The  several 
nations  of  the  Iroquois,  united,  constituted  one  Family, 
dwelling  together  in  one  Long  House  ;  and  these  ties 

1    Compare    the    sentiments    of       with  those  of  Horace,  — 
Pericles,  —  Exegi  monumentum  acre  perennius,  * 

,  A    $    .         x      ,  .        ~  /  Reealique  situ  pyramidum  altius : 

Avdpdiv  yap  etrKpavoiv  iraaa  777  ra-  r; 

\     ,          .  -         /          .       -    ,     ,  Quod  non  imber  edax,  non  Aquilo  impo- 
(pos,  Kal  ou  (TTr)\cav  \JLOVOV  iv  TTI  oiKtia, 

01) fj.aife i  ciriypa(f)T).  a\\a  Kal   €v  ry  fify 

Trpotr-nKotar,   &ypa<pos  prfiw  irap'eKd-        Possit  diruere»  aut  mnumerabiles 

<TT<?  r9,s  yv£ws  /iaAAoy  $  rov   tpyov        Annorum  series,  et  fuga  temporum. 

HOR->  Lib-  3>  Ode  3°» 
THUCYD.,  Lib.  a,  c.  43.  *  See  Vol.  II.  p.    161. 

56 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    LEAGUE 

of  family  relationship  were  carried  throughout  their 
civil  and  social  system,  from  individuals  to  tribes, 
from  tribes  to  nations,  and  from  the  nations  to  the 
League  itself,  and  bound  them  together  in  one  com 
mon,  indissoluble  brotherhood. 

In  their  own  account  of  the  origin  of  the  League, 
the  Iroquois  invariably  go  back  to  a  remote  and  un 
certain  period,  when  the  compact  between  the  Five 
Nations  was  formed,  its  details  and  provisions  were 
settled,  and  those  laws  and  institutions  were  established, 
under  which,  without  essential  change,  they  afterwards 
continued  to  flourish.  If  we  may  trust  their  testi 
mony,  the  system  under  which  they  confederated  was 
not  of  gradual  construction,  under  the  suggestions  of 
necessity ;  but  was  the  result  of  one  protracted  effort 
of  legislation. (18)  The  nations  were,  at  the  time,  separate 
and  hostile  bands,  although  of  generic  origin,  and  were 
drawn  together  in  council  to  deliberate  upon  the  plan 
of  a  League,  which  a  wise  man  of  the  Onondaga  nation 
had  projected,  and  under  which,  he  undertook  to 
assure  them,  the  united  nations  could  elevate  them 
selves  to  a  general  supremacy.  Tradition  has  pre 
served  the  name  of  Da-gd-no-we-dd  as  the  founder  of 
the  League,  and  the  first  lawgiver  of  the  Ho-de'-no-sau- 
nee.  It  likewise  points  to  the  northern  shore  of  the 
Ga-nuri-ta-ahy  or  Onondaga  lake,  as  the  place  where 
the  first  council-fire  was  kindled,  around  which  the 
chiefs  and  wise  men  of  the  several  nations  were  gath 
ered,  and  where,  after  a  debate  of  many  days,  its  estab 
lishment  was  effected. 

Their  traditions  further  inform  us,  that  the  con 
federacy,  as  framed  by  this  council,  with  its  laws,  rules, 

57 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

inter-relationships  of  the  people  and  mode  of  administra 
tion,  has  come  down  through  many  generations  to  the 
present  age,  with  scarcely  a  change  ;  except  the  addi 
tion  of  an  inferior  class  of  rulers,  called  chiefs,  in  con 
tradistinction  to  the  sachems,  and  a  modification  of  the 
law  in  relation  to  marriage.  Without  entering  here 
upon  any  inquiry  to  show  the  probable  accuracy  of  their 
traditions,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  investigate  the  struc 
ture  of  the  government,  as  it  stood  in  its  full  vigor  at 
the  commencement  of  the  last  century,  and  to  deduce 
the  general  principles  upon  which  it  was  founded. 

The  central  government  was  organized  and  admin 
istered  upon  the  same  principles  which  regulated  that 
of  each  nation,  in  its  separate  capacity ;  the  nations 
sustaining  nearly  the  same  relation  to  the  League,  that 
the  American  states  bear  to  the  Union.  In  the 
former,  several  oligarchies  were  contained  within  one, 
in  the  same  manner  as  in  the  latter,  several  republics 
are  embraced  within  one  republic.(38)  To  obtain  a 
general  conception  of  the  character  of  a  government 
the  ruler,  or  ruling  body,  or  bodies,  as  the  case  may  be, 
would  be  the  first  object  of  attention  ;  and  when  their 
powers  and  tenure  of  office  are  discovered,  the  true 
index  is  obtained  to  the  nature  of  the  government. 
In  the  case  of  the  Ho-de'-no-sau-nee,  the  organization 
was  externally  so  obscure  as  to  induce  a  universal  be 
lief  that  the  relations  between  ruler  and  people  were 
simply  those  of  chief  and  follower  —  the  earliest  and 
lowest  political  relation  between  man  and  man  ;  while, 
in  point  of  fact,  the  Iroquois  had  emerged  from  this 
primitive  state  of  society,  and  had  organized  a  sys 
tematic  government. 

58 


i.O-HA  DAOR    PORCUPINE    QUILL 
ZGA-NOSA  OR  CONCH  SHELL  BREAST  PLATE 


S  ACHEMSHIP  S 

At  the  institution  of  the  League,  fifty (47)  per 
manent  sachemships  were  created,  with  appropriate 
names ;  and  in  the  sachems  who  held  these  titles 
were  vested  the  supreme  powers  of  the  confederacy. (40) 
To  secure  order  in  the  succession,  and  to  determine 
the  individuals  entitled,  the  sachemships  were  made 
hereditary,  under  limited  and  peculiar  laws  of  descent. 
The  sachems  themselves  were  equal  in  rank  and  au 
thority,  and  instead  of  holding  separate  territorial 
jurisdictions,  their  powers  were  joint,  and  co-extensive 
with  the  League.  As  a  safeguard  against  contention 
and  fraud,  each  sachem  was  "  raised  up,"  and  invested 
with  his  title  by  a  council  of  all  the  sachems,  with  suit 
able  forms  and  ceremonies.  Until  this  ceremony  of 
confirmation  or  investiture,  no  one  could  become  a 
ruler.  He  received,  when  raised  up,  the  name  of  the 
sachemship  itself,  as  in  the  case  of  titles  of  nobility, 
and  so  also  did  his  successors,  from  generation  to  gen 
eration.  The  sachemships  were  distributed  unequally 
between  the  five  nations,  but  without  thereby  giving  to. 
either  a  preponderance  of  political  power.  Nine  of 
them  were  assigned  to  the  Mohawk  nation,  nine  to  the 
Oneida,  fourteen  to  the  Onondaga,  ten  to  the  Cayuga 
and  eight  to  the  Sentca.  The  sachems,  united,  formed 
the  Council  of  the  League,  the  ruling  body,  in  which 
resided  the  executive,  legislative  and  judicial  authority. 
It  thus  appears  that  the  government  of  the  Iroquois 
was  an  oligarchy,  taking  the  term,  at  least,  in  the 
literal  sense,  "  the  rule  of  the  few ;  "  and,  while  more 
system  is  observable  in  this  than  in  the  oligarchies  of 
antiquity,  it  seems,  also,  better  calculated,  in  its  frame 
work,  to  resist  political  changes. 

59 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

This  specimen  of  Indian  legislation  is  so  remarkable, 
that  a  table  of  these  sachemships,  with  their  division 
into  classes,  indicating  certain  inter-relations,  hereafter 
to  be  explained,  is  inserted  in  the  Seneca  dialect. 

Titles  or  Sachemships  of  the  Iroquois,  founded  at  the  institution  of 
the  League ;  which  have  been  borne  by  their  Sachems  in  succes 
sion,  from  its  formation  to  the  present  tinted 

GA-NE-A'-GA-O-NO,  OR    MOHAWK    NATION. 

I.    I.   Da-ga-e'-o-ga.1       2.   Ha-yo-went'-ha.2      3.   Da-ga- 
no-we'-da.3 

II.  4.  So-a-e-wa'-ah.4  5.  Da-yo'-ho-go.5  6.  O-a-a'- 
go-wa.6 

III.  7.  Da-an-no-ga'-e-neh.7  8.  Sa-da'-ga-e-wa-deh.8 
9.  Has-da-weh'-se-ont-ha.9 

O-NA-YOTE'-KAH-O-NO,  OR    ONEIDA   NATION. 

I.    i.    Ho-das'-ha-teh.10    2.  Ga-no-gweh'-yo-do.11    3.  Da- 
yo-ha'-gwen-da.12 

II.  4.  So-no-sase'.18  5.  To-no-a-ga'-o.14  6.  Ha-de-a-dun- 
nent'-ha.15 

III.  7.  Da-wa-da'-o-da-yo.16  8.  Ga-ne-a-dus'-ha-yeh.17 
9.  Ho-wus'-ha-da-o.18 

1  This  name  signifies  "Neutral,"  or  "the  Shield."  2  "  Man  who 
combs."  8  "  Inexhaustible."  4  <£  Small  speech."  6  <c  At  the  forks." 
6  "  At  the  great  river."  7  "  Dragging  his  horns."  8  "  Even  tempered." 
9  "  Hanging  up  rattles."  The  Sachems  of  the  first  class  belonged  to  the 
Turtle  Tribe,  of  the  second  to  the  Wolf  Tribe,  and  of  the  third  to  the 
Bear  Tribe. 

10  "  A  man  bearing  a  burden."  n  "  A  man  covered  with  cat  tail 
down,"  12  « Opening  through  the  woods."  13  "A  long  string." 
14  "  A  man  with  a  headache."  15  "  Swallowing  himself."  16  "  Place 
of  the  echo."/  17  <{  War  club  on  the  ground."  18  "  A  man  steaming 
himself."  The  sachems  of  the  first  class  in  the  Oneida  nation  belonged 
to  the  Wolf  Tribe,  of  the  second  to  the  Turtle  Tribe,  and  of  the  third  to 
the  Bear  Tribe. 

60 


SACHEMSHIPS 

O-NUN-DAH'-GA-O-NO,    OR    ONONDAGA    NATION. 
I.    I.   To-do-da-ho.1       2.   To-nes'-sa-ah.       3.    Da-at-ga- 

dose.2 

II.  4.   Ga-nea-da'-je-wake.3     5.  Ah-wa'-ga-yat.4     6.   Da- 

a-yat'-gwa-e. 

III.  7.   Ho-no-we-na'-to.5 

IV.  8.   Ga-wa-na'-san-do.6     9.  Ha-e'-ho.7     10.  Ho-yo-ne- 
a'-ne.8      u.   Sa-da'-qua-seh.9 

V.  12.  Sa-go-ga-ha'.10  13.  Ho-sa-ha'-ho.11  14.  Ska-no'- 
wun-de.12 

GUE'-U-GWEH-O-NO,    OR    CAYUGA    NATION. 
I.    i.   Da-ga'-a-yo.13     2.  Da-je-no'-da-weh-o.     3.  Ga-da'- 
gwa'-sa.     4.   So-yo-wase'.      5.    Ha-de-as'-yo-no. 

II.  6.  Da-yo-o-yo'-go.  7.  Jote-ho-weh'-ko.14  8.  De-a- 
w  ate '-ho. 

III.    9.  To-da-e-W.      10.   Des-ga'-heh. 

NUN-DA-WAH'-O-NO,  OR    SENECA    NATION. 
I.     I.   Ga'-ne-o-di'-yo.15      2.   Sa-da-ga'-o-yase.16 
II.    3.   Ga-no-gi'-e.17     4.   Sa-geh'-jo-wa.18 

III.  5.   Sa-de-a-no'-wus.19     6.  Nis-ha-ne-a'-nent.20 

IV.  7.   Ga-no-go-e-da'-we.21     8.   Do-ne-ho-ga'-weh.22 

1  "Tangled."  This  was  the  most  dignified  title  in  the  list.  It 
belonged  to  the  Bear  Tribe.  2  "  On  the  watch,"  Bear  Tribe.  This 
sachem  and  the  one  before  him  were  hereditary  counsellors  of  To-do-da' -ho. 

3  This  word  signifies  "  Bitter  body."  The  title  belonged  to  the  Snipe 
Tribe.  4  Turtle  Tribe.  6  This  sachem  was  the  hereditary  keeper  of 
the  Wampum,  Wolf  Tribe. (83)  e  Deer  Tribe.  7  Deer  Tribe.  8  Turtle 
Tribe.  9  Bear  Tribe.  10  Signifies  "  Having  a  glimpse,"  Deer  Tribe. 
11  «  Large  mouth,"  Turtle  Tribe.  12  ««  Over  the  creek,"  Turtle  Trib~. 

18  «'  Man  frightened."  14  "  Very  cold."  The  tribes  of  the  Cayuga 
sachems  were  as  follows:  i  Deer,  2  Heron,  3  and  4  Bear,  5  and  7  Turtle, 
8  Heron,  9  and  10  Snipe. 

15  "Handsome  lake,"  Turtle  Tribe.  10  "Level  heavens,"  Snipe 
Tribe.  17  Turtle  Tribe.  18  «  Great  forehead,"  Hawk  Tribe.  19  "'As 
sistant,"  Bear  Tribe.  20  "  Falling  day,"  Snipe  Tribe.  21  «  H^tir 
burned  off,"  Snipe  Tribe.  22  "  Open  door,"  Wolf  Tribe. 

6l 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

These  titles  or  names  were  hereditary  in  the  several 
tribes  of  which  each  nation  was  composed.  When  an 
individual  was  made  a  sachem,(53)  upon  the  death 
or  deposition  of  one  of  the  fifty,  his  name  was  "taken 
away,"  (G8)  and  the  name  of  the  sachemship  held  by  his 
predecessor  was  conferred  upon  him.  Thus,  upon  the 
demise  of  the  Seneca  sachem  who  held  the  title  Gd- 
ne-o-di-yO)  a  successor  would  be  raised  up  from  the 
Turtle  tribe,  in  which  the  sachemship  was  hereditary, 
and  after  the  ceremony  of  investiture,  the  person 
would  be  known  among  the  Iroquois  only  under  the 
name  of  Ga-ne-o-di'-yo.  These  fifty  titles,  excepting 
two,  have  been  held  by  as  many  sachems,  in  succes 
sion,  as  generations  have  passed  away  since  the  forma 
tion  of  the  League.(50) 

The  Onondaga  nation,  being  situated  in  a  central 
position,  were  made  the  keepers  both  of  the  Council 
Brand,  and  of  the  Wampum,  in  which  the  structure 
and  principles  of  their  government,  and  their  laws  and 
treaties  were  recorded.  At  stated  periods,  usually  in 
the  autumn  of  each  year,  the  sachems  of  the  League 
assembled  in  council  at  Onondaga,  which  was  in  effect 
the  seat  of  government,  to  legislate  for  the  common 
welfare.  Exigencies  of  a  public  or  domestic  character 
often  led  to  the  summoning  of  this  council  at  extra 
ordinary  seasons,  but  the  place  was  not  confined  to 
Onondaga.  It  could  be  appointed  in  the  territory  of 
either  of  the  nations,  under  established  usages.  Orig 
inally  the  object  of  the  general  council  was  to  raise  up 
sachems  to  fill  vacancies.  In  the  course  of  time,  as 
their  intercourse  with  foreign  nations  became  more 
important,  it  assumed  the  charge  of  all  matters  which 

62 


COUNCIL    OF    THE    LEAGUE 

concerned  the  League.  It  declared  war  and  made 
peace,  sent  and  received  embassies,  entered  into  trea 
ties  of  alliance,  regulated  the  affairs  of  subjugated 
nations,  received  new  members  into  the  League,  ex 
tended  its  protection  over  feeble  tribes,  in  a  word, 
took  all  needful  measures  to  promote  their  prosperity, 
and  enlarge  their  dominion. 

Notwithstanding  the  equality  of  rights,  privileges 
and  powers  between  the  members  of  this  body  of 
sachems,  there  were  certain  discriminations  between 
them,  which  rendered  some  more  dignified  than  others. 
The  strongest  illustration  is  found  in  the  Onondaga 
sachem,  To-do-da-ho,  who  has  always  been  regarded 
as  the  most  noble  sachem  of  the  League.  As  an 
acknowledgment  of  his  eminence,  two  of  the  Onon 
daga  sachems  were  assigned  to  him  as  hereditary  I 
counsellors.  The  great  respect  and  deference  paid 
by  the  Iroquois  to  this  title,  has  led  to  the  vulgar 
error,  that  JTo-do-da-ho  was  the  king  or  civil  head  of 
the  confederacy.  He  possessed,  in  fact,  no  unusual 
or  executive  powers,  no  authority  which  was  not 
equally  enjoyed  by  his  compeers ;  and  when  the  light 
of  tradition  is  introduced,  to  clear  up  the  apparent 
anomaly,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  reverence  of  the 
people  was  rather  for  the  title  itself  than  for  the  per 
son  who  held  it,  as  it  was  one  of  their  illustrious 
names.  At  the  establishment  of  the  League,  an~ 
Onondaga  by  the  name  of  T'o-do-da-ho  had  rendered 
himself  a  potent  ruler,  by  the  force  of  his  military 
achievements.  Tradition  says  that  he  had  conquered 
the  Cayugas  and  the  Senecas.  It  represents  his  head 
as  covered  with  tangled  serpents,  and  his  look,  when 

63 

\\J     t/ 

N\N 

^ 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO9UOIS 

^ 

angry,  as  so  terrible  that  whoever  looked  upon  him 
fell  dead.  It  relates  that  when  the  League  was 
formed,  the  snakes  were  combed  out  of  his  hair  by  a 
Mohawk  sachem,  who  was  hence  named  Ha-yo-went'- 
ha,  <c  the  man  who  combs."  To-do-da-ho  was  reluctant 
to  consent  to  the  new  order  of  things,  as  he  would 
thereby  be  shorn  of  his  absolute  power,  and  be  placed 
among  a  number  of  equals.  To  remove  these  objec 
tions  in  some  measure,  and  to  commemorate  his  mag 
nanimity,  the  first  sachemship  was  named  after  him, 
and  was  dignified  above  the  others  by  special  marks 
of  honor  ;  but  such,  however,  as  were  in  perfect  con 
sistency  with  an  equal  distribution  of  powers  among 
all  the  sachems  as  a  body.  Down  to  the  present  day, 
among  the  Iroquois,  this  name  is  the  personification 
of  heroism,  of  forecast,  and  of  dignity  of  character; 
and  this  title  has  ever  been  regarded  as  more  illus 
trious  than  any  other  in  the  catalogue  of  Iroquois 
nobility. 

To  several  other  of  these  officers  or  names,  par 
ticular  duties  were  affixed  at  the  institution  of  the 
League.  For  example:  the  Senecas  were  made  the 
door-keepers  of  the  Long  House  ;  and  having  imposed 
upon  Do-ne-ho-g'd-weh)  the  eighth  sachem,(13)  the  duty 
of  watching  the  door,  they  gave  to  him  a  sub-sachem, 
or  assistant,  to  enable  him  to  execute  this  trust.  This 
sub-sachem  was  raised  up  at  the  same  time  with  his 
superior,  with  the  same  forms  and  ceremonies,  and 
received  the  name  or  title  which  was  created  simulta 
neously  with  that  of  the  sachemship.  It  was  his 
duty  to  stand  behind  the  sachem  on  all  public  occa 
sions,  and  to  act  as  his  runner  or  attendant,  as  well  as 

64 


EQUALITY    OF    THE    SACHEMS 

in  the  capacity  of  a  counsellor.(51)  Ho-no-we-na-to, 
the  Onondaga  sachem  who  was  made  the  keeper  of 
the  wampum,  had  also  a  sub-sachem,  or  assistant. 
Several  other  sachems,  to  whom  special  responsibilities 
were  confided,  were  allowed  sub-sachems,  to  enable 
them  to  fulfil  their  duties,  or  perhaps  as  a  mark  of 
honor.  All  of  these  special  marks  of  distinction 
were  consistent  with  perfect  equality  among  the 
sachems,  as  members  of  one  ruling  body,  in  the 
administration  of  the  affairs  of  the  League.  When 
their  method  of  legislating  is  considered,  this  fact  will 
appear  with  greater  distinctness. 

The  several  sachems,  in  whom,  when  united  in 
general  council,  resided  the  supreme  powers  of  the 
League,  formed,  when  apart  in  their  own  territories, 
the  ruling  bodies  of  their  respective  nations.  When 
assembled  as  the  Council  of  the  League,  the  power 
of  each  sachem  became  co-extensive  with  the  gov 
ernment,  and  direct  relations  were  created  between 
all  the  people  and  each  individual  ruler;  but  when 
the  sachems  of  a  nation  were  convened  in  council,  all 
its  internal  affairs  fell  under  their  immediate  cogni 
zance.  For  all  purposes  of  a  local  and  domestic,  and 
many  of  a  political  character,  the  nations  were  entirely 
independent  of  each  other.  The  nine  Mohawk 
sachems  administered  the  affairs  of  that  nation  with 
joint  authority,  precisely  in  the  same  manner  as  they 
did,  in  connection  with  their  colleagues,  the  affairs  of 
the  League  at  large.  With  similar  powers,  the  ten 
Cayuga  sachems  regulated  the  domestic  affairs  of  their 
nation. 

As  the  sachems  of  each    nation  stood  upon  a  per- 

VOL.  i.  —  5  65 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

feet  equality,  in  authority  and  privileges,  the  meas 
ure  of  influence  was  determined  entirely  by  the 
talents  and  address  of  the  individual.  In  the  coun 
cils  of  the  nation,  which  were  of  frequent  occurrence, 
all  business  of  national  concernment  was  transacted ; 
and,  although  the  questions  moved  on  such  occa 
sions  would  be  finally  settled  by  the  opinions  of 
the  sachems,  yet  such  was  the  spirit  of  the  Iroquois 
system  of  government,  that  the  influence  of  the 
inferior  chiefs,  the  warriors,  and  even  of  the  women 
would  make  itself  felt,  whenever  the  subject  itself 
aroused  a  general  public  interest. 

If  we  seek  their  warrant  for  the  exercise  of  power 
in  the  etymology  of  the  word  Ho-yar-na-go-war^  by 
which  the  sachems  were  known  as  a  class,  it  will  be 
found  to  intimate  a  check  upon,  rather  than  an 
enlargement  of  their  authority  ;  for  it  signifies,  simply, 
"counsellor  of  the  people,"  a  beautiful  as  well  as 
appropriate  designation  of  a  ruler.  But  within  their 
sphere  of  action,  their  powers  were  highly  arbitrary  in 
ancient  times. 

Next  to  the  sachems,  in  position,  stood  the  Chiefs, 
an  inferior  class  of  rulers,  the  very  existence  of  whose 
office  was  an  anomaly  in  the  oligarchy  of  the  Iroquois. 
Many  years  after  the  establishment  of  the  League, 
even  subsequent  to  the  commencement  of  their  inter 
course  with  the  whites,  there  arose  a  necessity  for 
raising  up  this  class.  It  was  an  innovation  upon  the 
original  framework  of  the  confederacy,  but  it  was 
demanded  by  circumstances  which  could  not  be  re 
sisted.  The  office  of  chief,  Hd-seh-no-wa-neh,  which 
is  rendered  "  an  elevated  name,"  was  made  elective, 

66 


CHIEFS 

and  the  reward  of  merit ;  but  without  any  power  of 
descent,  the  title  terminating  with  the  individual. 
No  limit  to  the  number  was  established.  The  Sen- 
ecas,  still  residing  in  New  York,  number  about  two 
thousand  five  hundred,  and  exclusive  of  the  eight 
sachems,  they  have  about  seventy  chiefs.  At  first 
their  powers  were  extremely  limited,  and  confined  to 
a  participation  in  the  local  affairs  of  their  own  nation, 
in  the  management  of  which  they  acted  as  the  coun 
sellors  and  assistants  of  the  sachems,  rather  than  in 
the  capacity  of  rulers.  But  they  continued  to  increase 
in  influence,  with  their  multiplication  in  numbers,  and 
to  encroach  upon  the  powers  of  the  sachems,  until  at 
the  present  time,  when  the  League  is  mostly  dismem 
bered,  and  their  internal  organization  has  undergone 
some  essential  changes,  they  have  raised  themselves  to 
an  equality,  in  many  respects,  with  the  sachems  them 
selves.  After  their  election,  they  were  raised  up  by 
a  council  of  the  nation  ;  but  a  ratification,  by  the 
general  council  of  the  sachems,  was  necessary  to  com 
plete  the  investiture.  The  tenure  of  this  office  still 
continues  the  same. 

The  powers  and  duties  of  the  sachems  and  chiefs 
were  entirely  of  a  civil  character,  and  confined,  by  their 
organic  laws,  to  the  affairs  of  peace.  No  sachem 
could  go  out  to  war  in  his  official  capacity,  as  a  civil 
ruler.  If  disposed  to  take  the  war-path,  he  laid  aside 
his  civil  office,  for  the  time  being,  and  became  a 
common  warrior.  It  becomes  an  important  inquiry, 
therefore,  to  ascertain  in  whom  the  military  power, 
was  vested.  The  Iroquois  had  no-  distinct  class  of 
war-chiefs,  raised  up  and  set  apart  to  command  in 

67 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

time  of  war;  neither  do  the  sachems  or  chiefs  appear 
to  have  possessed  the  power  of  appointing  such  persons 
^s  they  considered  suitable  to  the  post  of  command. 
\  All  military  operations  were  left  entirely  to  private 
enterprise,  and  to  the  system  of  voluntary  service, 
the  sachems  seeking  rather  to  repress  and  restrain, 
than  to  encourage  the  martial  ardor  of  the  people. 
vTheir  principal  war-captains  were  to  be  found  among 
the  class  called  chiefs,  many  of  whom  were  elected 
to  this  office  in  reward  for  their  military  achievements. 
The  singular  method  of  warfare  among  the  Iroquois 
renders  it  extremely  difficult  to  obtain  a  complete  and 
satisfactory  explanation  of  the  manner  in  which  their 
warlike  operations  were  conducted.  Their  whole  civil 
policy  was  averse  to  the  concentration  of  power  in 
the  hands  of  any  single  individual,  but  inclined  to 
the  opposite  principle  of  division  among  a  number 
of  equals ;  and  this  policy  they  carried  into  their 
military  as  well  as  through  their  civil  organization. 
Small  bands  were,  in  the  first  instance,  organized  by 
individual  leaders,  each  of  which,  if  they  were  after 
wards  united  upon  the  same  enterprise,  continued 
under  its  own  captain,  and  the  whole  force,  as  well 
as  the  conduct  of  the  expedition,  was  under  their 
joint  management.  They  appointed  no  one  of  their 
number  to  absolute  command,  but  the  general  direction 
was  left  open  to  the  strongest  will,  or  the  most  persua 
sive  voice. 

As  they  were  at  war  with  all  nations  not  in  their 
actual  alliance,  it  was  lawful  for  any  warrior  to  or 
ganize  a  party,  and  seek  adventures  wherever  he 
pleased  to  direct  his  steps.  Perhaps  some  chief,  filled 

68 


MILITARY    CHIEFTAINS 

with  martial  ardor,  planned  an  inroad  upon  the  Cher- 
okees  of  the  south  ;  and,  having  given  a  war-dance, 
and  thus  enlisted  all  who  wished  to  share  the  glory 
of  the  adventure,  took  the  war-path  at  once,  upon 
his  distant  and  perilous  enterprise.  In  such  ways  as 
this,  many  expeditions  originated  ;  and  it  is  believed 
that  a  great  part  of  the  warlike  transactions  of  the 
Iroquois  were  nothing  more  than  personal  adventures, 
or  the  daring  deeds  of  inconsiderable  war-parties. 
Under  such  a  state  of  things,  a  favorite  leader,  pos 
sessed  of<  the  confidence  of  the  people  from  his  war 
like  achievements,  would  be  in  no  want  of  followers, 
in  the  midst  of  a  general  war;  nor  would  the  League 
be  in  any  danger  of  losing  the  services  of  its  most 
capable  military  commanders.  To  obviate  the  dan 
gerous  consequences  of  disagreement,  when  the  several 
nations  were  prosecuting  a  common  war,  and  their 
forces  were  united  into  one  body,  an  expedient  was 
resorted  to  for  securing  unanimity  in  their  plans,  in 
the  establishment  of  two  supreme  military  chieftain 
cies.  The  two  chieftains  who  held  these  offices  were 
designed  rather  to  take  the  general  supervision  of  the 
affairs  of  war,  than  the  actual  command  in  the  field, 
although  they  were  not  debarred  from  assuming  it, 
if  they  were  disposed  to  do  so.  These  war-chiefships 
were  made  hereditary,  like  the  sachemships,  and  va 
cancies  were  filled  in  the  same  manner.  When  the 
Senecas,  at  the  institution  of  the  League,  were  made 
the  door-keepers,  these  chieftaincies  were  assigned  to 
them,  for  the  reason  that  being  at  the  door,  they 
would  first  take  the  war-path  to  drive  back  the  in 
vader.  The  first  of  these  was  named  Ta-wan-ne- 

69 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

arSy1  "  needle  breaker,"  and  the  title  made  hereditary  in 
the  Wolf  tribe  ;  the  second  was  named  So-nd-so-wa, 
"great  oyster  shell,"  and  the  office  assigned  to  the 
Turtle  tribe.  To  these  high  chieftains,  as  the  Iroquois 
now  affirm,  was  intrusted  the  supreme  command  of  the 
forces  of  the  League,  and  the  general  management  of 
its  military  affairs.(48) 

During  the  Revolution,  Ta-yen-da-na'-ga,  Joseph 
Brant,  commanded  the  war-parties  of  the  Mohawks ; 
and,  from  his  conspicuous  position  and  the  high  con 
fidence  reposed  in  him,  rather  than  from  any  claim 
advanced  by  himself,  the  title  of  military  chieftain 
of  the  League  has  been  conceded  to  him  by  some 
writers.  But  this  is  entirely  a  mistake,  or  rather,  a 
false  assertion,  which  is  expressly  contradicted  by 
all  of  the  Iroquois  nations,  including  the  Mohawks 
themselves. (37) 

It  is,  perhaps,  in  itself  singular,  that  no  religious 
functionaries  were  recognized  in  the  League.  This 
is  shown  by  the  fact,  that  none  were  ever  raised  up 
by  the  general  council  of  sachems,  to  fill  a  sacerdo 
tal  office.  There  was,  however,  a  class  in  each  nation, 
styled  Ho-nun-de'-unt)  "  keepers  of  the  faith,"  who  were 
regularly  appointed  to  officiate  at  their  festivals,  and 
to  take  the  general  supervision  of  their  religious 
affairs. 

To  the  officers  above  enumerated,  the  adminis 
tration  of  the  League  was  intrusted.  The  congress 
of  sachems  took  the  charge  of  all  those  matters 

1  Governor  Blacksnake,  who  now  resides  upon  the  Allegany  reser 
vation,  and  is  upwards  of  a  hundred  years  of  age,  now  holds  this 
title.  (33) 

70 


POPULAR    INFLUENCE 

which  pertained  to  the  public  welfare.  With  them 
resided  the  executive,  legislative  and  judicial  authority, 
so  far  as  they  were  not  possessed  by  the  people ; 
although  their  powers  in  many  things  appear  to  have 
been  rather  advisory  than  executive.  The  chiefs, 
from  counsellors  and  intermediaries  between  the 
sachems  and  the  people,  increased  in  influence,  until 
they  became  rulers  with  the  sachems  themselves, 
thus  widening  and  liberalizing  the  oligarchy.  In  all 
matters  of  war,  the  power  appears  to  have  resided 
chiefly  with  the  people,  and  its  prosecution  to  have 
been  left  to  private  adventure.  If  several  bands 
united,  they  had  as  many  generals  as  bands,  who 
governed  their  proceedings  by  a  council,  in  which, 
as  in  civil  affairs,  unanimity  was  a  fundamental  law. 
The  two  high  military  chieftains  had  rather  the 
planning  and  general  management  of  the  campaign, 
than  the  actual  conduct  of  the  forces.  Running 
through  their  whole  system  of  administration,  was 
a  public  sentiment,  which  gave  its  own  tendency  to  j 
affairs,  and  illustrated  to  a  remarkable  degree,  that  | 
the  government  rested  upon  the  popular  will,  and; 
not  upon  the  arbitrary  sway  of  chiefs. 

From  whatever  point  the  general  features  of  the 
League  are  scrutinized,  it  must  be  regarded  as  a 
beautiful,  as  well  as  a  remarkable  structure  —  the 
triumph  of  Indian  legislation.  When  the  posses 
sions  of  the  Iroquois  were  enlarged  by  conquest 
followed  by  occupation,  it  was  an  expansion,  and 
not  a  dismemberment  of  the  confederacy,  one  of  its 
leading  objects  being  the  absorption  of  contiguous 
nations.  To  the  Eries  and  to  the  Neuter  nation, 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

according  to  tradition,  the  Iroquois  offered  the  alter 
native  of  admission  into  the  League,  or  extermina 
tion;  and  the  strangeness  of  this  proposition  will 
disappear,  when  it  is  remembered  that  an  Indian 
nation  regards  itself  as  at  war  with  all  others  not 
in  actual  alliance.  Peace  itself  was  one  of  the  ulti 
mate  objects  aimed  at  by  the  founders  of  this  Indian 
oligarchy,  to  be  secured  by  the  admission,  or  subju 
gation  of  surrounding  nations.  In  their  progressive 
course,  their  empire  enlarged,  until  they  had  stretched 
their  chain  around  the  half  of  our  republic,  and  ren 
dered  their  names  a  terror  from  the  hills  of  New 
England  to  the  deepest  seclusions  upon  the  Missis 
sippi  ;  when  the  advent  of  another  race  arrested  their 
career,  and  prepared  the  way  for  the  gradual  extin 
guishment  of  their  council-fires,  and  the  desolation 
of  the  Long  House. 

With  a  mere  confederacy  of  Indian  nations,  the 
constant  tendency  would  be  to  a  rupture,  from 
remoteness  of  position  and  interest,  and  from  the 
inherent  weakness  of  such  a  compact.  In  the  case 
under  consideration,  something  more  lasting  was 
aimed  at,  than  a  simple  union  of  the  five  nations, 
in  the  nature  of  an  alliance.  A  blending  of  the 
national  sovereignties  into  one  government  was 
sought  for  and  achieved  by  these  forest  statesmen. 
The  League  made  the  Ho-de-no-sau-nee  one  people, 
with  one  government,  one  system  of  institutions,  one 
executive  will.  Yet  the  powers  of  the  government 
were  not  so  entirely  centralized  that  the  national 
independencies  disappeared.  This  was  very  far  from 
the  fact.  The  crowning  feature  of  the  League,  as 

72 


UN  ITT    OF    THE    RACE 

a  political  structure,  was  the  perfect  independence 
and  individuality  of  the  national  sovereignties,  in  the 
midst  of  a  central  and  embracing  government,  which 
presented  such  a  cemented  exterior  that  its  subdivi 
sions  would  scarcely  have  been  discovered  in  the 
general  transactions  of  the  League. 

How  these  ends  were  attained  we  have  yet  to 
examine. 

The  government  sat  lightly  upon  the  people,  who, 
in  effect,  were  governed  but  little.  It  secured  to  each 
that  individual  independence,  which  the  Ho-de'-no- 
sau-nee  knew  how  to  prize  as  well  as  the  Saxon  race  ; 
and  which,  amid  all  their  political  changes,  they  have 
continued  to  preserve. 


73 


Chapter  IV 


Division  into  Tribes  —  Family  Relationships  —  Descent  in  the 
Female  Line  —  Degrees  of  Consanguinity  —  Succession  of  Sa 
chems —  Names — Nature  of  a  Tribe  —  Equality  of  the  Nations 
—  National  Epithets  —  Office  of  Chief  Elective  —  Distinguished 
Men  were  Chiefs —  Stability  of  the  Oligarchy 

THE   division    of  a  people  into   tribes  is   the 
most     simple     organization     of     society. (54) 
Each  tribe  being  in  the  nature  of  a  family, 
the    ties    of    relationship    which    bind    its    individual 
members  together  are    indispensable,  until    they    are 
rendered    unnecessary    by    the    adoption    of    a    form 
of  government,  and    the   substitution    of  other    ties, 
which    answer    the    same    ends     of    protection     and 
security. 

When  a  people  have  long  remained  in  the  tribal 
state,  it  becomes  extremely  difficult  to  remove  all 
traces  of  such  organic  divisions  by  the  substitution 
of  new  institutions.(11)  In  the  tribes  of  the  Jews, 
this  position  is  illustrated.  Among  the  Greeks  also, 
especially  the  Athenians,  the  traces  of  their  original 
divisions  never  entirely  disappeared.  Solon  substi 
tuted  classes  for  tribes,  but  subsequently  Cleisthenes 
restored  the  tribes,  retaining  however  the  classes,  and 
increased  the  number ;  thus  perpetuating  this  early 
social  organization  of  the  Athenians  among  their  civil 
institutions.  The  Athenian  tribe  was  a  group  of 
families,  with  subdivisions  ;  the  Roman  tribes,  estab- 

74 


DIVISION    INTO    TRIBES 

lished  by  Romulus,  the  same.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Jewish  tribes  embraced  only  the  lineal  descendants 
of  a  common  father;  and  its  individual  members 
being  of  consanguinity,  the  tribe  itself  was  essentially 
different  from  the  Grecian.  The  Iroquois  tribe  was 
unlike  them  all.  It  was  not  a  group  of  families  ;  - 
neither  was  it  made  up  of  the  descendants  of  a 
common  father,  as  the  father  and  his  child  were  never 
of  the  same  tribe.  In  the  sequel,  however,  it  will 
be  discovered  to  be  nearest  the  Jewish ;  differing 
from  it,  as  from  all  other  similar  institutions  of  the 
old  world,  chiefly  in  this,  that  descent  followed,  in 
all  cases,  the  female  line. 

The  founders  of  the  Iroquois  Confederacy  did  not 
seek  to  suspend  the  tribal  divisions  of  the  people,  to 
introduce  a  different  social  organization  ;  but  on  the 
contrary,  they  rested  the  League  itself  upon  the  tribes, 
and  through  them,  sought  to  interweave  the  race  into 
one  political  family.  A  careful  exploration  of  those 
tribal  relationships  which  characterize  the  political  sys 
tem  of  the  Iroquois,  becomes,  therefore,  of  importance. 
Without  such  knowledge  as  this  will  afford,  their  gov 
ernment  itself  is  wholly  unmeaning  and  inexplicable. 

In  each  nation  there  were  eight  tnf>es,(58)  which 
were  arranged  in  two  divisions/55  and  named  as 
follows  :  — 

Wolf,  Bear,  Beaver,  Turtle. 

Deer,  Snipe,  Heron,  Hawk. 

These  animals  are  common  to  all  latitudes  between 
Louisiana  and  Montreal,  and  hence  in  themselves 
are  incapable  of  throwing  any  light  upon  the  land,  or 

75 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

locality  in  which  the  race  originated.1  These  names 
had  doubtless  an  emblematical  signification,  which 
reached  beyond  the  object  itself.  Of  the  origin  of 
their  tribal  divisions  but  little  is  known,  and  to  it, 
perhaps,  but  little  importance  attaches.  Tradition 
declares  that  the  Bear  and  the  Deer  were  the  original 
tribes,  and  that  the  residue  were  subdivisions/54'55' 
57,58.  Evidence  of  the  existence  of  seven  of  the 
tribes  at  the  establishment  of  the  Oligarchy,  is  fur 
nished  in  the  distribution  of  the  Onondaga  and  Seneca 
sachemships.  The  fourteen  assigned  to  the  former 
nation  were  divided  between  the  Wolf,  Bear,  Beaver, 
Turtle,  Snipe,  and  Deer  tribes ;  while  the  eight  be 
longing  to  the  latter,  were  given  to  the  Wolf,  Bear, 
Turtle,  Snipe,  and  Hawk,  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
others,  if  they  then  existed  ;  and  in  these  several  tribes 
they  were  made  perpetually  hereditary. 

1  Table  exhibiting  the  scientific  names  of  the  animals  adopted  by  the 
Iroquois  as  the  emblems  of  their  respective  tribes.  It  follows  the  classi 
fication  employed  in  the  Nat.  History  of  New  York.  The  species  have 
been  determined  from  careful  descriptions  obtained  of  the  Senecas. 


Seneca  Name.  Order.  Family.  Genus.  Species. 

Wolf.  Tor-yoh'-ne.  Carnivora.  Canidap.  Lupus.  Occidentalis. 

Bear.  Ne-e-ar'-gu-ye.  Carnivora.  Ursidae.  Ursus.  Americanus. 

Beaver.  Non-gar-ne'-e-ar-goh.  Rodentia.  Castorid*.  Castor.  Fiber. 

Turtle.  Ga-ne-e-ar-teh-go'-wa.  Chelonia.  Chelonidae.  Chelonura.  Serpentina. 

Deer.  Na-o'-geh.  Ungulata.  Ccrvidae.  Cervus.  Virginianus. 

Snipe.  Doo-ese-doo-we'.  Grallae.  Scolopacidx.  Totanus.  Semipalmatus. 

Heron.  Jo-as'-seh.  Grail*.  Ardeida.-.  Ardea.  Candidissima. 

Hawk.  Os-sweh-ga-da-ga'-ah.  Accipitres.  Falconidae.  Falco.  Columbarius. 

NOTE.  Some  doubt  rests  upon  the  Heron  .and  the  Snipe  concerning 
the  species.  In  the  former  case  the  choice  lies  between  the  Ardea  Can 
didissima  and  the  Ardea  Leucc.  In  the  latter,  the  large  number  of  the 
species  introduces  a  difficulty.  The  Semipalmatus  corresponds  most 
nearly  with  the  description  of  the  bird. 

76 


DIVISION    INTO    TRIBES 

The  division  of  the  people  of  each  nation  into  eight 
tribes,  whether  pre-existing,  or  perfected  at  the  estab 
lishment  of  the  Confederacy,  did  not  terminate  in  its 
objects  with  the  nation  itself.1  It  became  the  means 
of  effecting  the  most  perfect  union  of  separate  nations 
"ever  devised  by  the  wit  of  man."  (57)  ,  In  effect, 
the  Wolf  tribe  was  divided  into  five  parts,  and  one 
fifth  of  it  placed  in  each  of  the  five  nations.  The  re 
maining  tribes  were  subjected  to  the  same  division 
and  distribution.  Between  those  of  the  same  name  — 
or  in  other  words,  between  the  separated  parts  of  each 
tribe  —  there  existed  a  tie  of  brotherhood,  which 
linked  the  nations  together  with  indissoluble  bonds. 
The  Mohawk  of  the  Wolf  tribe  recognized  the.  Seneca 
of  the  Wolf  tribe  as  his  brother,  and  they  were  bound 
to  each  other  by  the  ties  of  consanguinity.  In  like 
manner  the  Oneida  of  the  Turtle  or  other  tribe  re 
ceived  the  Cayuga  or  Onondaga  of  the  same  tribe,  as 
a  brother,  and  with  a  fraternal  welcome.  This  rela 
tionship  was  not  ideal,  but  was  founded  upon  actual 
consanguinity.  In  the  eyes  of  an  Iroquois,  every 
member  of  his  own  tribe,  in  whatever  nation,  was  as 
much  his  brother  or  his  sister  as  it  children  ot  the 
same  mother.  This  cross-relationship  between  the" 

1  The  Senecas  had  eight  tribes,  the  Cayugas  eight,  the  Tuscaroras 
seven,  the  Onondagas  eight,  the  Oneidas  three,  and  the  Mohawks  three. 
The  descendants  of  the  ancient  Oneidas  and  Mohawks  affirm  that  their 
ancestors  never  had  but  three  tribes,  the  Wolf,  Bear,  and  Turtle.  On 
old  treaties  with  these  nations  now  in  the  State  Department,  these  titles 
appear  as  their  only  social  divisions.  But  by  the  original  laws  of  the 
League,  neither  of  these  tribes  could  intermarry.  Hence  there  appears 
to  have  been  a  necessity  for  the  existence  originally  of  the  remaining 
tribes,  or  some  of  them,  to  admit  of  the  verity  of  this  law  in  relation  to 
marriage.  (58) 

77 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

tribes  of  the  same  name,  and  which  was  stronger,  if 
possible,  than  the  chain  of  brotherhood  between  the 
several  tribes  of  the  same  nation,  is  still  preserved  in 
all  its  original  strength.  It  doubtless  furnishes  the 
chief  reason  of  the  tenacity  with  which  the  fragments 
of  the  League  still  cling  together.  If  either  of  the 
five  nations  had  wished  to  cast  off  the  alliance,  it  must 
also  have  broken  this  bond  of  brotherhood.  Had  the 
nations  fallen  into  collision,  it  would  have  turned  Hawk 
tribe  against  Hawk  tribe,  Heron  against  Heron,  brother 
against  brother.  The  history  of  the  Ho-de -no-sau-nee 
exhibits  the  wisdom  of  these  organic  provisions  ;  for, 
during  the  long  period  through  which  the  League  sub 
sisted,  they  never  fell  into  anarchy,  nor  even  approx 
imated  to  dissolution  from  internal  disorders. (39) 

With  the  progress  of  the  inquiry,  it  becomes  more 
apparent  that  the  Confederacy  was  in  effect  a  League 
of  Tribes.'  With  the  ties  of  kindred  as  its  principle 
of  union,  the  whole  race  was  interwoven  into  one 
great  family,  composed  of  tribes  in  its  first  subdivision 
(for  the  nations  were  counterparts  of  each  other) ;  and 
the  tribes  themselves,  in  their  subdivisions,  composed 
of  parts  of  many  households.  Without  these  close 
inter-relations,  resting,  as  many  of  them  do,  upon 
the  strong  impulses  of  nature,  a  mere  alliance  between 
the  Iroquois  nations  would  have  been  feeble  and 
transitory. 

In  this  manner  was  constructed  the  League  of  the 
Ho-de'-no-sau-nee^  in  itself  an  extraordinary  specimen 
of  Indian  legislation.  Simple  in  its  foundation  upon 
the  family  relationships,  effective  in  the  lasting  vigor 
inherent  in  the  ties  of  kindred,  and  perfect  in  its  suc- 

78 


AH-TA-QUA-0-WEH  OR  MOCCASIN  FOR  FEMALE. 


FAMILY    RELATIONSHIPS 

cess,  in  achieving  a  permanent  and  harmonious  union 
of  the  nations,  it  forms  an  enduring  monument  to  that 
proud  and  progressive  race,  who  reared  under  its  pro 
tection  a  wide-spread  Indian  sovereignty. 

All  the  institutions  of  the  Iroquois  have  regard  to  ^ 
the  division  of  the  people  into  tribes/54  Originally 
with  reference  to  marriage,  the  Wolf,  Bear,  Beaver, 
and  Turtle  tribes,  being  brothers  to  each  other,  were 
not  allowed  to  intermarry.  The  four  opposite  tribes, 
being  also  brothers  to  each  other,  were  likewise  pro 
hibited  from  intermarrying.  Either  of  the  first  four 
tribes,  however,  could  intermarry  with  either  of  the 
last  four,  the  relation  between  them  being  that  of 
cousins.  Thus  Hawk  could  intermarry  with  Bear  or 
Beaver,  Heron  with  Turtle ;  but  not  Beaver  and 
Turtle,  nor  Deer  and  Deer.  Whoever  violated  these 
laws  of  marriage  incurred  the  deepest  detestation  and 
disgrace.  In  process  of  time,  however,  the  rigor  of 
the  system  was  relaxed,  until  finally  the  prohibition 
was  confined  to  the  tribe  of  the  individual,  which, 
among  the  residue  of  the  Iroquois,  is  still  religiously 
observed.  They  can  now  marry  into  any  tribe  but 
their  own.  Under  the  original  as  well  as  modern 
regulation,  the  husband  and  wife  were  of  different 
tribes.  The  children  always  followed  the  tribe  of 
the  mother. 

As  the  whole  Iroquois  system  rested  upon  the 
tribes  as  an  organic  division  of  the  people,  it  was 
•very  natural  that  the  separate  rights  of  each  should 
be  jealously  guarded.  Not  the  least  remarkable 
among  their  institutions,  was  that  which  confined  the 
transmission  of  all  titles,  rights  and  property  in  the 

79 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS. 

female  line  to  the  exclusion  of  the  male.  It  is 
strangely  unlike  the  canons  of  descent  adopted  by 
civilized  nations,  but  it  secured  several  important  ob 
jects.  If  the  Deer  tribe  of  the  Cayugas,  for  example, 
received  a  sachemship  at  the  original  distribution  of 
these  offices,  the  descent  of  such  title  being  limited  to 
the  female  line,  it  could  never  pass  out  of  the  tribe. 
It  thus  became  instrumental  in  giving  to  the  tribe 
individuality.  A  still  more  marked  result,  and  per 
haps  a  leading  object  of  this  enactment  was  the 
perpetual  disinheritance  of  the  son.(57)  Being  of  the 
tribe  of  his  mother  formed  an  impassable  barrier 
against  him  ;  and  he  could  neither  succeed  his  father 
as  a  sachem,  nor  inherit  from  him  even  his  medal, 
or  his  tomahawk. (103)  The  inheritance,  for  the  pro 
tection  of  tribal  rights,  was  thus  directed  from  the 
lineal  descendants  of  the  sachem,  to  his  brothers,  or 
his  sisters'  children,  or,  under  certain  circumstances, 
to  some  individual  of  the  tribe  at  large ;  each  and  all 
of  whom  were  in  his  tribe,  while  his  children,  being  in 
another  tribe,  as  before  remarked,  were  placed  out  of 
the  line  of  succession. 

By  the  operation  of  this  principle,  also,  the  cer 
tainty  of  descent  in  the  tribe,  of  their  principal  chiefs, 
was  secured  by  a  rule  infallible ;  for  the  child  must  be 
the  son  of  its  mother,  although  not  necessarily  of  its 
mother's  husband.  If  the  purity  of  blood  be  of  any 
moment,  the  lawgivers  of  the  Iroquois  established  the 
only  certain  rule  the  case  admits  of,  whereby  the  as 
surance  might  be  enjoyed  that  the  ruling  sachem  was 
of  the  same  family  or  tribe  with  the  first  taker  of  the 
titled 

80 


DEGREES  OF  CONSANG  UINITT 

The  Iroquois  mode  of  computing  degrees  of  con 
sanguinity  was  unlike  that  of  the  civil  or  canon  law ; 
but  was  yet  a  clear  and  definite  system. (12)  No  dis- 
tinction  was  made  between  the  lineal  and  collateral 
lines,  either  in  the  ascending  or  descending  series. 
To  understand  this  subject,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind, 
that  of  the  grandparents  one  only,  the  maternal  grand 
mother,  necessarily  was,  and  of  the  parents  only  the 
mother,  and,  in  the  descending  line,  only  the  sisters' 
children  could  be  of  the  same  tribe  with  the  proposi- 
tus,  or  individual  from  whom  the  degrees  of  relation 
ship  were  reckoned.  By  careful  attention  to  this  rule, 
the  reasons  of  the  following  relationships  will  be  read 
ily  perceived.  The  maternal  grandmother  and  her 
sisters  were  equally  grandmothers  ;  the  mother  and 
her  sisters  were  equally  mothers  ;  the  children  of  a 
mother's  sisters  were  brothers  and  sisters ;  the  children 
of  a  sister  were  nephews  and  nieces  ;  and  the  grand 
children  of  a  sister  were  his  grandchildren.  These 
were  the  chief  relatives  within  the  tribe,  though  not 
fully  extended  as  to  number.  Out  of  the  tribe,  the 
paternal  grandfather  and  his  brothers  were  equally . 
grandfathers ;  the  father  and  his  brothers  equally 
fathers ;  the  father's  sisters  were  aunts,  while,  in  the 
tribe,  the  mother's  brothers  were  uncles ;  the  father's 
sister's  children  were  cousins  as  in  the  civil  law ;  the 
children  of  these  cousins  were  nephews  and  nieces,  and 
the  children  of  these  nephews  and  nieces  were  his 
grandchildren,  or  the  grandchildren  of  the  propositus. 
Again  :  the  children  of  a  brother  were  his  children, 
and  the  grandchildren  of  a  brother  were  his  grand 
children  ;  also,  the  children  of  a  father's  brother  were 
VOL.  i.  — 6  8 1 


\^— 


*v 


LEAGUE    OF    THz    IROQUOIS 

his  brothers  and  sisters,  instead  of  cousins,  as  under 
the  civil  law ;  and  lastly,  their  children  were  his  grand 
children.^ 

It  was  the  leading  object  of  the  Iroquois  law  of 
descent,  to  merge  the  collateral  in  the  lineal  line,  as 
sufficiently  appears  in  the  above  outline.  By  the 
civil  law,  every  departure  from  the  common  ancestor 
in  the  descending  series,  removed  the  collateral  from 
the  lineal  ;  while,  by  the  law  under  consideration,  the 
two  lines  were  finally  brought  into  one.1  Under  the 
civil  law  mode  of  computation,  the  degrees  of  relation 
ship  become  too  remote  to  be  traced  among  collater 
als  ;  while,  by  the  mode  of  the  Iroquois,  none  of  the 
collaterals  were  lost  by  remoteness  of  degree.  The 
number  of  those  linked  together  by  the  nearer  family 
ties  was  largely  multiplied  by  preventing,  in  this  man 
ner,  the  subdivision  of  a  family  into  collateral  branches. 
These  relationships,  so  novel  and  original,  did  not 
exist  simply  in  theory,  but  were  actual,  and  of  con 
stant  recognition,  and  lay  at  the  foundation  of  their 
political  as  well  as  social  organization. (72) 

The  succession  of  the  rulers  of  the  League  is  one 
of  the  most  intricate  subjects  to  be  met  with  in  the 
political  system  of  the  Iroquois.  It  has  been  so  diffi- 

1  The  following  are  the  names  of  the  several  degrees  of  relationship 
recognized  among  the  Ho-de'-no-sau-nee,  in  the  language  of  the  Sene- 
cas  :  (54,r>G)_ 

Hoc-sote',  Grandfather.  Hoc-no'-seh,  Uncle. 

Uc-sote',  Grandmother.  Ah-geh'-huc,  Aunt. 

Ha'-nih,  Father.  Ha-yan-wan-deh',  Nephew. 

Noh-yeh',  Mother.  Ka-yan-wan-deh',  Niece. 

Ho-ah'-wuk,  Son.  Da-ya-gwa'-dan-no-da,   Brothers  and  Sisters. 

Go-ah'-wuk,  Daughter.  Ah-gare'-seh,  Cousin. 

Ka-ya'-da,  Grandchildren. 

82 


SUCCESSION    OF    SACHEMS 

cult  to  procure  a  satisfactory  exposition  of  the  enact 
ments  by  which  the  mode  of  succession  was  regulated, 
that  the  sachemships  have  sometimes  been  considered 
elective,  at  others  as  hereditary.  Many  of  the  ob 
stacles  which  beset  the  inquiry  are  removed  by  the 
single  fact,  that  the  title  of  sachem  was  absolutely 
hereditary  in  the  tribe  to  which  it  was  originally  / 
assigned,  and  could  never  pass  out  of  it  but  with  its 
extinction.  How  far  these  titles  were  hereditary  in 
that  part  of  the  family  of  the  sachem  who  were  of  the 
same  tribe  with  himself,  becomes  the  true  question  to 
consider.  The  sachem's  brothers,  and  the  sons  of  his 
sisters  were  of  his  tribe,  and,  consequently,  in  the  line 
of  succession.  Between  a  brother  and  a  nephew  of 
the  deceased,  there  was  no  law  which  established  a 
preference ;  neither  between  several  brothers,  on  the 
one  hand,  and  sons  of  several  sisters  on  the  other,  was 
there  any  law  of  primogeniture  ;  nor,  finally,  was  there 
any  positive  law,  that  the  choice  should  be  confined  to 
the  brothers  of  the  deceased  ruler,  and  the  descendants 
of  his  sisters  in  the  female  line,  until  all  these  should 
fail,  before  a  selection  could  be  made  from  the  tribe  at 
large.  Hence,  it  appears,  so  far  as  positive  enactments 
were  concerned,  that  the  office  of  sachem  was  heredi 
tary  in  the  particular  tribe  in  which  it  ran  ;  while  it  was 
elective,  as  between  the  male  members  of  the  tribe  itself.1 

1  Laws  of  succession  somewhat  similar  existed  among  the  Aztecs. 
"  The  sovereign  was  selected  from  the  brothers  of  the  deceased  prince, 
or,  in  default  of  them,  from  his  nephews,  thus  the  election  was  always  re 
stricted  to  the  same  family.  *  *  *  The  scheme  of  election,  how 
ever  defective,  argues  a  more  refined  and  calculating  policy  than  was  to 
have  been  expected  from  a  barbarous  nation.1'  —  Prescott's  Conquest  of 
Mexico,  vol.  i.  p.  23. 

83 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

In  the  absence  of  laws,  designating  with  certainty 
the  individual  upon  whom  the  inheritance  should  fall, 
custom  would  come  in  and  assume  the  force  of  law,  in 
directing  the  manner  of  choice,  from  among  a  number 
equally  eligible.  Upon  the  decease  of  a  sachem,  a 
tribal  council  assembled  to  determine  upon  his  suc 
cessor.  The  choice  usually  fell  upon  a  son  of  one  of 
the  deceased  ruler's  sisters,  or  upon  one  of  his  brothers 
—  in  the  absence  of  physical  and  moral  objections; 
and  this  preference  of  one  of  his  near  relatives  would 
be  suggested  by  feelings  of  respect  for  his  memory. 
Infancy  was  no  obstacle,  it  involving  only  the  necessity 
of  setting  over  the  infant  a  guardian,  to  discharge  the 
duties  of  a  sachem  until  he  attained  a  suitable  age.  It 
sometimes  occurred  that  all  the  relatives  of  the  deceased 
were  set  aside,  and  a  selection  was  made  from  the 
tribe  generally  ;  but  it  seldom  thus  happened,  unless 
from  the  great  unfitness  of  the  near  relatives  of  the 
deceased. 

When  the  individual  was  finally  determined,  the 
nation  summoned  a  council,  in  the  name  of  the  de 
ceased,  of  all  the  sachems  of  the  League  ;  and  the  new 
sachem  was  raised  up  by  such  council,  and  invested 
with  his  office. 

In  connection  with  the  power  of  the  tribes  to  desig 
nate  the  sachems,  should  be  noticed  the  equal  power  of 
deposition.  If,  by  misconduct,  a  sachem  lost  the  con 
fidence  and  respect  of  his  tribe,  and  became  unworthy 
of  authority,  a  tribal  council  at  once  deposed  him  ;  and, 
having  selected  a  successor,  summoned  a  council  of 
the  League  to  perform  the  ceremony  of  his  investiture. 

Still  further  to  illustrate  the  characteristics  of  the 

84 


NAMES 

tribes  of  the  Iroquois,  some  reference  to  their  mode 
of  bestowing  names (G8)  would  not  be  inapt.1  Soon 
after  the  birth  of  an  infant,  the  near  relatives  of  the 
same  tribe  selected  a  name.  At  the  first  subsequent 
council  of  the  nation,  the  birth  and  name  were  publicly 
announced,  together  with  the  name  and  tribe  of  the 
father,  and  the  name  and  tribe  of  the  mother.  In 
each  nation  the  proper  names  were  so  strongly  marked 
by  a  tribal  peculiarity,  that  the  tribe  of  the  individual 
could  usually  be  determined  from  the  name  alone. 
Making,  as  they  did,  a  part  of  their  language,  they 
were  all  significant.  When  an  individual  was  raised 
up  as  a  sachem,  his  original  name  was  laid  aside,  and 
that  of  the  sachemship  itself  assumed.  In  like  man 
ner,  at  the  raising  up  of  a  chief,  the  council  of  the 
nation  which  performed  the  ceremony,  took  away  the 
former  name  of  the  incipient  chief  and  assigned  him  a 
new  one,  perhaps,  like  Napoleon's  titles,  commemora 
tive  of  the  event  which  led  to  its  bestowment.  Thus, 
when  the  celebrated  Red-Jacket  was  elevated  by 
election  to  the  dignity  of  a  chief,  his  original  name, 
O-te-ti-'dri-iy  "  always  ready,"  was  taken  from  him,  and 
in  its  place  was  bestowed  Sa-go-ye-w'dt'-ha,  "  keeper 
awake,"  in  allusion  to  the  powers  of  his  eloquence. 

Each  tribe  in  the  nation  thus  formed  a  species  of 
separate  community.  The  members  were  all  of  con 
sanguinity,  and  their  relationships  easily  traced.  In 
like  manner  those  of  the  same  tribe  in  each  of  the 


1  Like  the  ancient  Saxons,  the  Iroquois  had  neither  a  prenomen,  nor  a 
cognomen  ;  but  contented  themselves  with  a  single  name.  The  name  of 
an  individual  was  often  changed  at  different  periods  of  life,  as  when  the 
youth  became  a  warrior  ;  and  again,  at  the  approach  of  age.  , 

85 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

other  nations  were  their  consanguinii,  and  their  rela 
tionships,  near  and  remote,  were  also  traceable.  As 
two  tribes  were  necessarily  joined  in  each  family,  there 
was  a  perfect  diffusion  of  tribes  throughout  the  nation, 
and  throughout  the  League.  In  this  manner  the  race 
of  the  Iroquois,  although  consisting  of  different  nations, 
was  blended  into  one  people.  The  League  was  in 
effect  established,  and  rested  for  its  stability,  upon  the 
natural  faith  of  kindred. 

It  now  remains  to  define  a  tribe  of  the  Ho-de'-no- 
sau-nee.  From  the  preceding  considerations  it  suffi 
ciently  appears,  that  it  was  not,  like  the  Grecian  and 
Roman,  a  circle  or  group  of  families  ;  for  two  tribes 
were  necessarily  represented  in  every  family;  neither, 
like  the  Jewish,  was  it  constituted-o£tlie_lineal  descend 
ants  of  a  common  father;  on  the  contrary,  it  distinctly 
involved  the  idea  of  descent  from  a  common  mother; 
nor  has  it  any  resemblance  to  the  Scottish  clan,  or  the 
Canton  of  the  Switzer.  In  the  formation  of  an  Iro 
quois  tribe,  a  portion  was  taken  from  many  households, 
and  bound  together  by  a  tribal  bond. 

The  wife,  her  children,  and  her  descendants  in  the 
female  line,  would,  in  perpetuity,  be  linked  with  the 
destinies  of  her  own  tribe ;  while  the  husband,  his 
brothers  and  sisters,  and  the  descendants  of  the 
latter,  in  the  female  line,  would,  in  like  manner,  be 
united  to  another  teibe,  and  held  by  its  affinities. 
Herein  was  a  bond  of  union  between  the  several  teibes 
of  the  same  jmtte«~,  corresponding,  in  some  degree, 
with  the  cross-relationship  founded  upon  consanguin 
ity,  which  bound  together  the  tribes  of  the  same 
emblem  in  the  different  nations. 

86 


NATURE    OF    A    TRIBE 

The  Iroquois  claim  to  have  originated  the  idea  of 
a  division  of  the  people  into  tribes,  as  a  means  of  ' 
creating  new  relationships  by  which  to  bind  the  people 
more  firmly  together.(57)  It  is  further  asserted  by 
them,  that  they  forced  or  introduced  this  social  or 
ganization  among  the  Cherokees,  the  Chippeways, 
(Massasaugas)  and  several  other  Indian  nations,  with 
whom,  in  ancient  times,  they  were  in  constant  inter 
course.  The  fact  that  this  division  of  the  people  of 
the  same  nation  into  tribes  does  not  prevail  generally 
among  our  Indian  races,  favors  the  assertion  of  the 
Iroquois.(57)  On  the  other  hand,  the  laws  of  de 
scent,  at  least  of  the  crown,  among  the  Aztecs,  dimly 
shadows  forth  the  existence  of  a  similar  social  organi 
zation,  which  may  have  been  reproduced  among  the 
Iroquois,  or  preserved  through  a  remote  affinity 
of  blood.  At  ail  events,  it  was  the  life  and  strength' 
of  the  League. 

Of  the  comparative  value  of  these  institutions,  when 
contrasted  with  those  of  civilized  countries,  and  of 
their  capability  of  elevating  the  race,  it  is  not  neces 
sary  here  to  inquire.  It  was  the  boast  of  the  Iroquois 
that  the  great  object  of  their  confederacy  was  peace  - 
to  break  up  the  spirit  of  perpetual  warfare,  which  had 
wasted  the  red  race  from  age  to  age.  Such  an  insight 
into  the  true  end  of  all  legitimate  government,  by 
those  who  constructed  this  tribal  league,  excites  as 
great  surprise  as  admiration.  It  is  the  highest  and 
the  noblest  aspect  in  which  human  institutions  can  be 
viewed;  and  the  thought  itself -- universal  peace 
among  Indian  races  possible  of  attainment  —  was  a 
ray  of  intellect  from  no  ordinary  mind.  To  con- 

87 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

summate  such  a  purpose,  the  Iroquois  nations  were 
to  be  concentrated  into  one  political  fraternity ;  and 
in  a  manner  effectively  to  prevent  offshoots  and  seces 
sions.  By  its  natural  growth,  this  fraternity  would 
accumulate  sufficient  power  to  absorb  adjacent  nations, 
moulding  them,  successively,  by  affiliation,  into  one 
common  family.  Thus,  in  its  nature,  it  was  designed 
to  be  a  progressive  confederacy.  What  means  could 
have  been  employed  with  greater  promise  of  success 
than  the  stupendous  system  of  relationships,  which 
was  fabricated  through  the  division  of  the  Ho-de-no- 
sau-nee  into  tribes  ?  It  was  a  system  sufficiently 
ample  to  enfold  the  whole  Indian  race.  Unlimited 
in  their  capacity  for  extension,  inflexible  in  their  rela 
tionships,  the  tribes  thus  interleagued  would  have 
suffered  no  loss  of  unity  by  their  enlargement,  nor 
loss  of  strength  by  the  increasing  distance  between 
their  council-fires.  The  destiny  of  this  League,  if  it 
had  been  left  to  work  out  its  own  results  among  the 
red  races  exclusively,  it  is  impossible  to  conjecture. 
With  vast  capacities  for  enlargement,  and  remark 
able  durability  of  structure,  it  must  have  attained  a 
great  elevation,  and  a  general  supremacy. 

It  is  apparent  from  the  examination  of  such  evi 
dences  as  can  be  discovered,  that  the  several  Iroquois 
nations  occupied  positions  of  entire  equality  in  the 
League,  in  rights,  privileges  and  obligations.  Such 
special  immunities  as  were  granted  to  either,  must  be 
put  down  to  the  chances  of  location,  and  to  the 
numerical  differences  at  the  institution  of  the  Con 
federacy  ;  since  they  neither  indicate  an  intention  to 
establish  an  unequal  alliance,  nor  exhibit  the  exercise 

88 


EQUALITY    OF    THE    NATIONS 

of  privileges  by  either  nation,  inconsistent  with  the 
principle  of  political  equality,  on  which  the  League 
was  founded. 

The  sources  of  information,  from  which  this  con 
clusion  is  drawn,  are  to  be  found  in  the  mass  of 
Iroquois  traditions,  and  in  the  structure  of  the  Con 
federacy  itself.  Those  traditions  which  reach  beyond 
the  formation  of  the  League,  are  vague  and  unreliable, 
while  all  such  as  refer  to  its  establishment  assume  a 
connected  and  distinctive  form.  It  follows  that  confi 
dence  may  be  reposed  in  such  inferences  as  are  derived 
from  these  traditions,  and  corroborated  by  the  internal 
structure  of  the  government,  and  by  the  institutions 
of  the  League. 

There  were  provisions  apparently  vesting  in  certain 
nations  superior  authority,  which  it  is  desirable  to 
introduce  and  explain.  The  most  prominent  was  the 
unequal  distribution  of  sachemships,  indicating  an 
unequal  distribution  of  power :  the  Onondagas,  for 
example,  having  fourteen  sachems,  while  the  Senecas, 
by  far  the  most  powerful  nation  in  the  Confederacy, 
were  entitled  to  but  eight.  It  is  true,  ceteris paribus, 
that  a  larger  body  of  sachems  would  exercise  a  greater 
influence  in  general  council ;  but  it  will  appear,  when 
the  mode  of  deciding  questions  is  considered,  that  it 
gave  no  increase  of  power,  for  each  nation  had  an 
equal  voice,  and  a  negative  upon  the  others. 

By  another  organic  provision,  the  custody  of  the 
"  Council  Brand,"  and  also  of  the  "  Wampum,"  into 
which  the  laws  of  the  League  "  had  been  talked,"  was 
given  by  hereditary  grant  to  the  Onondagas.  This  is 
sufficiently  explained  by  their  central  position,  which 

89 


LEAGUE    OF    THE 

made  the  council-fire  in  the  Onondaga  valley,  in  effect, 
the  seat  of  government  of  the  League.  It  was  equally 
a  convenience  to  all,  and  does  not  necessarily  involve 
a  preference  enforced  by  superior  power. 

The  To-do-da-bo  was  likewise  among  the  Onondaga 
sachems.  Upon  this  point  it  has  heretofore  been 
stated  that  the  higher  degree  of  consideration  attached 
to  this  title  resulted  exclusively  from  the  exalted  esti 
mation  in  which  the  original  tfo-do-da-ho  was  held,  on 
account  of  his  martial  prowess  and  achievements. 

An  apparent  inequality  between  the  nations  of 
the  League  is  also  observable  in  the  award  of  the 
two  highest  military  chieftains  to  the  Senecas.  It 
will  be  sufficient,  on  this  difficult  feature  in  the  system 
of  the  Iroquois,  to  note  that  when  they  constructed 
their  political  edifice,  the  Long  House,(12G)  with  its 
door  opening  upon  the  west,  they  admitted  the  sup 
position  that  all  hostile  onsets  were  to  be  expected 
from  that  direction  ;  and  on  placing  the  Senecas  as 
a  perpetual  shield  before  its  western  portal,  these 
war-captains  were  granted,  as  among  the  means  need 
ful  for  its  protection. 

The  Mohawks  were  receivers  of  tribute  from  sub 
jugated  nations.  This  hereditary  privilege  must  be 
placed  upon  the  same  footing  with  the  preceding. 
It  may,  perhaps,  indicate  that  the  nations  upon  their 
borders  were  in  subjection. 

Unequal  terms  in  a  Confederacy  of  independent 
nations  would  not  be  expected.  True  wisdom  would 
dictate  the  principle  of  equality,  as  the  only  certain 
foundation  on  which  a  durable  structure  could  be 
erected.  That  such  was  the  principle  adopted  by 

99 


EQUALITY    OF    THE    NATIONS 

the  legislators  of  the  Iroquois,  is  evinced  by  the 
equality  of  rights  and  immunities  subsisting  between 
the  sachems  of  the  League.  Their  authority  was 
not  limited  to  their  own  nation,  but  was  co-extensive 
with  the  Confederacy.  The  Cayuga  sachem,  while 
in  the  midst  of  the  Oneidas,  could  enforce  from 
them  the  same  obedience  that  was  due  to  him  from 
his  own  people ;  and  when  in  general  council  with 
his  compeers,  he  had  an  equal  voice  in  the  disposal 
of  all  business  which  came  before  it.  The  special 
privileges  enumerated,  and  some  others  which  existed, 
were  of  but  little  moment,  when  compared  with  the 
fact  that  the  nations  were  independent,  and  that  each 
had  an  equal  participation  in  the  administration  of 
the  government. 

At  the  epoch  of  the  League,  the  several  nations 
occupied  the  territory  between  the  Hudson  and  the 
Genesee,  and  were  separated  by  much  the  same  in 
ternal  boundaries,  as  at  the  period  when  they  yielded 
up  their  sovereignty.  From  geographical  position, 
or  from  relative  importance,  or  yet,  for  the  mere 
purpose  of  establishing  between  the  nations  rela 
tionships  similar  to  those  existing  between  the  tribes, 
certain  rules  of  precedence,  and  national  ties,  were 
constituted  between  them.  The  nations  were  divided 
into  two  classes,  or  divisions  ;  and  when  assembled 
in  general  council  were  arranged  upon  opposite  sides 
of  the  "  council-fire."  On  the  one  side  stood  the 
Mohawks,  Onondagas  and  Senecas,  who,  as  nations,\ 
were  regarded  as  brothers  to  each  other,  but  as  fathers' 
to  the  other  nations.  Upon  the  other  side  were  the 
Oneidas  and  Cayugas,  and  at  a  subsequent  day,  the  \ 

91 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

(  Tuscaroras,  who,  in  like  manner,  were  brother  nations 
to  each  other,  but  children  to  the  first  three.  These 
divisions  were  in  harmony  with  their  system  of  rela 
tionships,  or  more  properly  formed  a  part  of  it.  They 
may  have  secured  for  the  senior  nations  increased 
respect,  but  they  involved  no  idea  of  dependence  in 
the  junior,  or  inequality  in  civil  rights. 

When  the  nations  were  enumerated,  the  Mohawks 
were  placed  first,  but  for  what  reason  is  not  precisely 
understood.  In  the  councils  of  the  Confederacy 
they  were  styled  Da-ga-e-o'-ga,  which  became  their 
national  epithet.  It  was  a  term  of  respect,  and  signi 
fies  "  neutral,"  or,  as  it  may  be  rendered,  "  the  shield." 
Its  origin  is  lost  in  obscurity. 

The  Onondagas  were  placed  next  in  the  order  of 
precedence,  and  were  addressed  in  council  by  the 
appellation  Ho-de ' -san-no-ge-ta.  This  term  signifies 
"  name-bearer,"  and  was  conferred  in  commemoration 
of  the  circumstance  that  the  Onondagas  bestowed 
the  names  upon  the  fifty  original  sachems.  This  was 
a  privilege  of  some  moment,  as  these  "  names  "  were 
to  descend  from  generation  to  generation,  upon  the 
successive  rulers  of  the  Ho-de'-no-sau-nee. 

Next  in  order  stood  the  Senecas,  justly  proud  of 
their  national  designation,  Ho-nan-ne-hd-ont^  or  "  the 
door-keeper."  To  them,  as  elsewhere  remarked, 
belonged  the  hereditary  guardianship  of  the  door  of 
the  Long  House. 

The  Oneidas  occupied  the  fourth  place  in  the  Iro- 
quois  order  of  precedence,  and  originally  had  no 
appellation  by  which  they  were  distinguished.  At 
a  subsequent  and  quite  modern  period,  the  epithet 

92 


NATIONAL    EPITHETS 

Ne-ar-de-on-dar-gd-waT)  or  "  Great  Tree,"  was  con 
ferred  upon  them  by  their  confederates.  This  name 
was  seized  upon  from  some  occurrence  at  a  treaty 
with  the  people  of  Wastow,  or  Boston. 

Of  the  five  original  nations,  the  Cayugas  were 
placed  last  in  the  enumeration.  They  were  desig 
nated  in  council  by  the  appellation,  So-nus-ho-gwa- 
to-war,  signifying  "  Great  Pipe."  Tradition  refers 
this  epithet  to  the  incident  that  the  leading  Cayuga 
chief  in  attendance  at  the  council  which  established 
the  League  smoked  a  pipe  of  unusual  dimensions 
and  workmanship. 

The  admission  of  the  Tuscaroras  having  been  long 
subsequent  to  the  formation  of  the  League,  they  were 
never  received  into  an  equal  alliance  with  the  other 
nations.  After  their  disastrous  overthrow,  and  expul 
sion  from  North  Carolina,  they  turned  towards  the 
country  of  the  Iroquois,  and  were  admitted  about 
the  year  1715,  as  the  sixth  nation,  into  the  Confed 
eracy.  But  they  were  never  allowed  to  have  a 
sachem,  who  could  sit  as  an  equal  in  the  council  of 
sachems.  The  five  nations  were  unwilling  to  enlarge 
the  number  of  sachemships  founded  at  the  institution 
of  the  League.  For  purposes  of  national  government, 
however,  they  were  organized  like  the  other  nations, 
with  similar  tribes,  relationships,  laws  and  institutions. 
They  also  enjoyed  a  nominal  equality  in  the  councils 
of  the  League,  by  the  courtesy  of  the  other  five,  and 
their  sachems  were  "raised  up"  with  the  same  cere 
monies.  They  were  not  dependent,  but  were  admitted 
to  as  full  equality  as  could  be  granted  them,  without 
enlarging  the  framework  of  the  Confederacy.  In 

93 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

the  councils  of  the  League,  they  had  no  national 
designation. (12 

At  the  establishment  of  the  Confederacy,  the  office 
of  chief,  Ha-seh-no-wa-nehy  "  an  elevated  name,"  was 
entirely  unknown  among  the  Iroquois.  Their  tradi 
tions,  as  elsewhere  stated,  affirm  that  this  title  was 
instituted  long  subsequent  to  the  foundation  of  the 
fifty  sachemships,  and  the  full  adjustment  of  the 
League.  The  necessity  in  which  this  office  had  its 
origin,  and  the  illustration  which  it  furnishes  of  a 
position  elsewhere  advanced,  that  all  political  institu 
tions,  as  they  unfold,  progress  from  monarchy  towards 
democracy,  leads  to  the  presentation  of  this  subject  in 
this  place. 

When  the  power  of  the  Ho-de'-no-sau-nee  began  to 
develop,  under  .the  new  system  of  oligarchies  within 
an  oligarchy,  there  sprang  up  around  the  sachems  a 
class  of  warriors,  distinguished  for  enterprise  upon 
the  war-path,  and  eloquence  in  council,  who  de 
manded  some  participation  in  the  administration  of 
public  affairs.  The  serious  objections  to  the  enlarge 
ment  of  the  number  of  rulers,  involving,  as  it  did, 
changes  in  the  framework  of  the  government,  for  a 
long  period  enabled  the  sachems  to  resist  the  encroach 
ment.  In  the  progress  of  events,  this  class  became 
too  powerful  to  be  withstood,  and  the  sachems  were 
compelled  to  raise  them  up  in  the  subordinate  station 
of  chiefs.  The  title  was  purely  elective,  and  the 
reward  of  merit.  Unlike  the  sachemships,  the  name 
was  not  hereditary  in  the  tribe  or  family  of  the  indi 
vidual,  but  terminated  with  the  chief  himself;  unless 
subsequently  bestowed  by  the  tribe  upon  some  other 

94 


DISTINGUISHED  MEN  WERE  CHIEFS 

person,  to  preserve  it  as  one  of  their  illustrious  names. 
These  chiefs  were  originally  invested  with  very 
limited  powers,  their  principal  office  being  that  of 
advisers  and  counsellors  of  the  sachems.  Having 
thus  obtained  a  foothold  in  the  government,  this  class, 
to  the  number  of  which  there  was  no  limit,  gradually 
enlarged  their  influence,  and  from  generation  to  gen 
eration  drew  nearer  to  an  equality  with  the  sachems 
themselves.1  By  this  innovation  the  government  was 
liberalized,  to  the  sensible  diminution  of  the  power  of 
the  sachems,  which,  at  the  institution  of  the  League, 
was  extremely  arbitrary. 

It  is  a  singular  fact,  that  none  of  the  sachems  of 
the  Iroquois,  save  Logan,2  have  ever  become  distin 
guished  in  history ;  although  each  of  the  fifty  titles 
or  sachemships  have  been  held  by  as  many  individ 
uals,  as  generations  have  passed  away  since  the  foun 
dation  of  the  Confederacy.  If  the  immortality  of 
men,  "worthy  of  praise/' is  committed  to  the  guar 
dianship  of  the  Muse- 

"  Dignum  laude  virum  Musa  vetat  mori," 

—  the  muse  of  tradition,  if  such  a  conception  may 
be  indulged,  has  been  enabled,  out  of  this  long  line 
of  sachems,  to  record  the  deeds  of  none,  save  the 
military  achievements  of  the  first  To-do-da -ho ^  the 

1  At  the  present  time  among  the  dismembered  fragments  of  the  Iro 
quois   nations,  the   chiefs  are  found  to  be  nearly,  if  not    in   all  respects, 
upon  an  equality  with  the  sachems,  although  the  offices  are  still  held  by 
different  tenures. 

2  Logan   was  one  of  the  ten  Cayuga  sachems,  but  which  of  the  ten 
names  or  sachemships  he  held,  is  not  at   present  ascertained.      His  father, 
Shikellimus  or  Shikalimo,  who  is  usually  mentioned  as  a  Cayuga  sachem, 
was  but  a  chief. 

95 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I  R  O      U  0  I  S 


wisdom  in  legislation  of  the  first  Da-ga-no-we'-dd* 
and  the  sacred  mission  of  Ga-ne-o-di-yo^  who  pre 
tended  to  have  received  a  revelation  from  the  Great 
Spirit.  The  residue  have  left  behind  them  no  re 
membrances  conferring  special  dignity  upon  the  sa- 
chemships  entrusted  to  their  keeping. 

The  celebrated  orators,  wise  men,  and  military 
leaders  of  the  Ho-de'-no-sau-nee^  are  all  to  be  found 
in  the  class  of  chiefs.  One  reason  for  this  may  exist 
in  the  organic  provision  which  confined  the  duties 
of  the  sachems  exclusively  to  the  affairs  of  peace; 
and  another  may  be  that  the  office  of  chief  was  be 
stowed  in  reward  of  public  services,  thus  casting  it 
by  necessity  upon  the  men  highest  in  capacity  among 
them.  In  the  list  of  those  chiefs  who  have  earned 
a  place  upon  the  historic  page,  as  well  as  in  the  "  un 
written  remembrance  "  of  their  tribe  and  race,  might 
be  enumerated  many  who  have  left  behind  them  a 
reputation  which  will  not  soon  fade  from  the  minds 
of  men. 

By  the  institution  of  this  office,  the  stability  of 
the  government  was  increased  rather  than  diminished. 

1  Da-ga~no-rwef-daJ  the  founder  of  the  confederacy,  and  Hd-yo- 
ivent'-hd,  his  speaker,  through  whom  he  laid  his  plans  of  government 
before  the  council  which  framed  the  League,  were  both  "raised  up1' 
among  the  fifty  original  sachems,  and  in  the  Mohawk  nation  j  but  after 
their  decease  these  two  sachemships  were  left  vacant,  and  have  since  con 
tinued  so. 

Da-gd-no-cwe'-dd  was  an  Onondaga,  but  was  adopted  by  the  Mohawks 
and  raised  up  as  one  of  their  sachems.  Having  an  impediment  in  his 
speech,  he  chose  Hd-yo-vuent'-hd  for  his  speaker.  They  were  both  un 
willing  to  accept  office,  except  upon  the  express  condition  that  their 
sachemships  should  ever  remain  vacant  after  their  decease.  These  are 
the  two  most  illustrious  names  among  the  Iroquois. 


STABILITY    OF    THE    OLIGARCHY 

In  their  own  figurative  enunciation  of  the  idea,  the 
chiefs  served  as  braces  in  the  Long  House  —  an 
apt  expression  of  the  place  they  occupied  in  their 
political  structure.  It  furnished  a  position  and  a 
reward  for  the  ambitious,  and  the  means  of  allaying 
discontent,  without  changing  the  ruling  body.  In 
this  particular,  the  oligarchy  of  the  Iroquois  ap 
pears  to  have  enjoyed  some  superiority  over  those 
of  antiquity .(126) 

"  In  aristocratical  governments,"  says  Montesquieu, 
"  there  are  two  principal  sources  of  disorder  :  exces 
sive  inequality  between  the  governors  and  the  gov 
erned,  and  the  same  inequality  between  the  different 
members  of  the  body  that  governs."  The  govern 
ment  of  the  Ho-de-no-sau-nee  was  exposed  to  neither 
of  these  difficulties.  Between  the  people  and  the 
sachems,  the  chiefs  formed  a  connecting  link ;  while 
the  sachems  themselves  were  perfectly  equal  in  political 
privileges. 

The  unchangeable  number  of  the  rulers,  and  the 
stability  of  the  tenure  by  which  the  office  itself  is 
held,  are  both  sources  of  security  in  an  oligarchy. 
To  the  former  safeguard  the  Iroquois  adhered  so 
firmly,  that  upon  the  admission  of  the  Tuscaroras, 
as  the  sixth  nation  of  the  League,  they  were  unwilling 
to  increase  the  original  number  of  sachemships ;  and 
the  Tuscaroras  have  not  to  this  day  a  sachem  who  is 
admitted  to  all  the  privileges  of  a  sachem  of  the  Con 
federacy.  The  latter  is  established  by  the  career  of 
Sa-go-ye-wat-h'dy  the  most  gifted  and  intellectual  of  the 
race  of  the  Iroquois,  and,  perhaps,  of  the  whole 

1  Montesquieu,  Spirit  of  Laws,  lib.  v.  cap.  8. 
VOL.  i. — 7  97 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I R O ^U O  I S 

Indian  family.  With  all  the  influence  which  he 
exercised  over  the  people  by  the  power  of  his  elo 
quence,  and  with  all  the  art  and  intrigue  which  his 
capacity  could  suggest,  he  was  never  able  to  elevate 
himself  higher  than  to  the  title  of  Chief.  To  attain 
even  this  dignity,  it  is  said  that  he  practiced  upon 
the  superstitious  fears  of  the  people.  The  Senecas 
themselves  aver,  that  it  would  have  been  unwise 
to  raise  up  a  man  of  his  intellectual  power  and 
extended  influence  to  the  office  of  sachem ;  as  it 
would  have  concentrated  in  his  hands  too  much  au 
thority.  Nearly  the  same  observations  apply  to  the 
celebrated  Joseph  Brant,  fa-yen-da-na-ga,  whose  abil 
ities  as  a  military  leader  secured  to  him  the  com- 
tmand  of  the  war  parties  of  the  Mohawks  during  the 
Revolution.  He  was  also  but  a  chief,  and  held  no 
other  office  or  title  in  the  nation,  or  in  the  Confeder 
acy. (3T)  By  the  force  of  his  character,  he  acquired 
the  same  influence  over  the  Mohawks  which  Sa-go-ye- 
wat'-ha  maintained  over  the  Senecas  by  his  eloquence. 
The  lives  of  these  distinguished  chiefs,  both  equally 
ambitious,  but  who  pursued  very  different  pathways 
to  distinction,  sufficiently  prove  that  the  office  of 
sachem  was  surrounded  by  impassable  barriers  against 
those  who  were  without  the  immediate  family  of 
the  sachem,  and  the  tribe  in  which  the  title  was 
hereditary. 


Chapter  V 

Councils  of  the  Iroquois — Influence  of  Public  Sentiment  —  Oratory 
—  Civil  Councils  —  Unanimity  —  Mourning  Councils  —  Wam 
pum  —  Festivities  —  Religious  Councils 

IN  an  oligarchy,  where  the  administrative  power 
is  vested  in  the  members  of  the  Ruling  Body 
jointly,  a  Council  of  the  Oligarchs  becomes  the 
instrumentality  through  which  the  will  of  this  body 
is  ascertained  and  enforced.  For  this  reason  the 
Councils  of  the  Iroquois  are  important  subjects  of 
investigation.  By  them  were  exercised  all  the  legisla 
tive  and  executive  authority  incident  to  the  League, 
and  necessary  for  its  security  against  outward  attack 
and  internal  dissensions.  When  the  sachems  were 
not  assembled  around  the  general  council-fire,  the 
government  itself  had  no  visible  existence.  Upon 
no  point,  therefore,  can  an  examination  be  better  di 
rected,  to  ascertain  the  degree  of  power  vested  in 
the  Ruling  Body,  and  the  manner  in  which  their 
domestic  administration  and  political  relations  were 
conducted.  When  the  sachems  were  scattered,  like 
the  people,  over  a  large  territory,  they  exercised  a 
local  and  individual  authority  in  the  matters  of 
every-day  life,  or  in  national  council  jointly  adjusted 
the  afTairs  of  their  respective  nations.  Those  higher 
and  more  important  concernments,  which  involved 
the  interests  of  the  League,  were  reserved  to  the 

99 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I  RO^UOIS 

sachems  in  general  council.  In  this  council  resided 
the  animating  principle,  by  which  their  political 
machinery  was  moved.  It  was,  in  effect,  the  gov 
ernment. 

The  oligarchical  form  of  government  is  not  without 
its  advantages,  although  indicative  of  a  low  state  of 
civilization.  A  comparison  of  views,  by  the  agency 
of  a  council,  would  at  any  time  be  favorable  to  the 
development  of  talent.  It  was  especially  the  case 
among  the  Iroquois,  in  consequence  of  the  greater 
diversity  of  interests,  and  the  more  extended  reach  of 
affairs  incident  to  several  nations  in  close  alliance. 
Events  of  greater  magnitude  would  spring  up  in  the 
midst  of  a  flourishing  confederacy,  than  in  a  nation  of 
inconsiderable  importance ;  and  it  is  demonstrated  by 
the  political  history  of  all  governments,  that  men 
develop  intellect  in  exact  proportion  to  the  magni 
tude  of  the  events  with  which  they  become  identified. 
For  these  reasons,  the  League  was  favorable  to  the 
production  of  men  higher  in  capacity  than  would  arise 
among  nations  whose  institutions  and  systems  of 
government  were  inferior. 

The  extremely  liberal  character  of  their  oligarchy  is 
manifested  by  the  modus  procedendi  of  these  councils. 
It  is  obvious  that  the  sachems  were  not  set  over  the 
people  as  arbitrary  rulers,  to  legislate  as  their  own 
will  might  dictate,  irrespective  of  the  popular  voice  ; 
on  the  contrary,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  a 
public  sentiment  sprang  up  on  questions  of  general 
interest,  which  no  council  felt  at  liberty  to  disregard. 
By  deferring  all  action  upon  such  questions  until  a 
council  brought  together  the  sachems  of  the  League, 

100 


GA-GEH-TA  OR  BELT. 


ORATORY 

attended  by  a  concourse  of  inferior  chiefs  and  warriors, 
an  opportunity  was  given  to  the  people  to  judge  for 
themselves,  and  to  take  such  measures  as  were  neces 
sary  to  give  expression  and  force  to  their  opinions. 
If  the  band  of  warriors  became  interested  in  the 
passing  question,  they  held  a  council  apart,  and  having 
given  it  a  full  consideration,  appointed  an  orator  to 
communicate  their  views  to  the  sachems,  their  Patres 
Conscripti.  In  like  manner  would  the  chiefs,  and  even 
the  women  proceed,  if  they  entertained  opinions  which 
they  wished  to  urge  upon  the  consideration  of  the 
council.  From  the  publicity  with  which  the  affairs  of 
the  League  were  conducted,  and  the  indirect  participa 
tion  in  their  adjustment  thus  allowed  the  people,  a 
favorable  indication  is  afforded  of  the  democratic  spirit 
of  the  government. 

Oratory,  from  the  constitutional  organization  of 
the  council,  was  necessarily  brought  into  high  repute. 
Questions  involving  the  safety  of  the  race,  and  the 
preservation  of  the  League,  were  frequently  before  it. 
In  those  warlike  periods,  when  the  Confederacy  was 
moving  onward  amid  incessant  conflicts  with  con 
tiguous  nations,  or,  perchance,  resisting  sudden  tides 
of  migratory  population,  there  was  no  dearth  of  those 
exciting  causes,  of  those  emergencies  of  peril,  which 
rouse  the  spirit  of  the  people,  and  summon  into 
activity  their  highest  energies.  Whenever  events  con 
verged  to  such  a  crisis,  the  council  was  the  first  resort ; 
and  there,  under  the  pressure  of  dangers,  and  in  the. 
glow  of  patriotism,  the  eloquence  of  the  Iroquois 
flowed  as  pure  and  spontaneous  as  the  fountains  of 
their  thousand  streamlets. 

101 


,0 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

The  Indian  has  a  quick  and  enthusiastic  appreciation 
of  eloquence.  Highly  impulsive  in  his  nature,  and 
with  passions  untaught  of  restraint,  he  is  strongly 
susceptible  of  its  influence.  By  the  cultivation  and 
exercise  of  this  capacity,  was  opened  the  pathway  to 
distinction  ;  and  the  chief  or  warrior  gifted  with  its 
magical  power  could  elevate  himself  as  rapidly,  as  he 
who  gained  renown  upon  the  war-path.  With  the 
Iroquois,  as  with  the  Romans,  the  two  professions, 
oratory  and  arms,1  could  establish  men  in  the  highest 
degree  of  personal  consideration.  To  the  ambitious 
Roman  in  the  majestic  days  of  the  Republic,  and 
to  the  proud  Indian  in  his  sylvan  house,  the  two 
pursuits  equally  commended  themselves ;  and  in  one 
or  the  other  alone,  could  either  expect  success. 

It  is  a  singular  fact,  resulting  from  the  structure 
of  Indian  institutions,  that  nearly  every  transaction, 
whether  social  or  political,  originated  or  terminated  in 
a  council.  This  universal  and  favorite  mode  of  doing 
business  became  interwoven  with  all  the  affairs  of 
public  and  private  life.  In  council,  public  transactions 
of  every  name  and  character  were  planned,  scrutinized 
and  adopted.  The  succession  of  their  rulers,  their 
athletic  games,  dances,  and  religious  festivals,  and 
their  social  intercourse,  were  all  alike  identified  with 
councils.  It  may  be  said  that  the  life  of  the  Iroquois 
was  either  spent  in  the  chase,  on  the  war-path,  or  at 
the  council-fire.  They  formed  the  three  leading 
objects  of  his  existence ;  and  it  would  be  difficult  to 

1  Duae  sunt  artes  quae  possunt  locare  homines  in  amplisshno  gradu 
dignitatis  ;  una  imperatoris,  altera  orationis  boni  :  ab  hoc  cnim  pacis  or- 
namcnta  retinentur  :  ab  illo  belli  pcricula  repelluntur.  —  CICERO  Pro 
Murana.  §  14. 

102 


CIVIL    COUNCILS 

determine  for  which  he  possessed  the  strongest  predi 
lection.  Regarding  them  in  this  light,  and  it  is 
believed  they  are  not  over-estimated,  a  narrative  of 
these  councils  would  furnish  an  accurate  and  copious 
history  of  the  Iroquois,  both  political  and  social. 
The  absence  of  these  records,  now  irreparable,  has 
greatly  abridged  the  fulness,  and  diminished  the 
accuracy  of  our  aboriginal  history. 

The  councils  of  the  League  were  of  three  distinct  L 
kinds ;  and  they  may  be  distinguished  under  the  heads 
of  civil,  mourning  and  religious.  Their  civil  councils, 
Ho-de-os -seh)  were  such  as  convened  to  transact  busi 
ness  with  foreign  nations,  and  to  regulate  the  internal 
administration  of  the  Confederacy.  The  mourning 
councils,  Hen-nun-do-nuti-seh)  were  those  summoned 
to  "  raise  up "  sachems  to  fill  such  vacancies  as 
had  been  occasioned  by  death  or  deposition,  and 
also  to  ratify  the  investiture  of  such  chiefs  as  the 
nations  had  raised  up  in  reward  of  public  services. 
Their  religious  councils,  Gd-e-we-yo-do  Ho-de-os-heri- 
dd-ko,  were,  as  the  name  imports,  devoted  to  religious 
observances. 

No  event  of  any  importance  ever  transpired  with 
out  passing  under  the  cognizance  of  one  or  another 
of  these  species  of  councils;  for  all  affairs  seem  to 
have  converged  towards  them  by  a  natural  and  in 
evitable  tendency.  An  exposition  of  the  mode  of 
summoning  each,  of  their  respective  powers  and  juris 
dictions,  and  of  the  manner  of  transacting  business, 
may  serve  to  unfold  the  workings  of  their  political 
system,  their  social  relations,  and  the  range  of  their 
intellectual  capacities. 

103 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

The  name  Ho-de-os-seb,  by  which  the  Iroquois 
designated  a  civil  council,  signifies  "  advising  to 
gether."  It  was  bestowed  upon  any  council  of 
sachems,  which  convened  to  take  charge  of  the  public 
relations  of  the  League,  or  to  provide  for  its  inter 
nal  administration.  Each  nation  had  power,  under 
established  regulations,  to  convene  such  a  council,  and 
prescribe  the  time  and  place  of  convocation. (G1) 

If  the  envoy  of  a  foreign  people  desired  to  submit 
a  proposition  to  the  sachems  of  the  League,  and 
applied  to  the  Senecas  for  that  purpose,  the  sachems 
of  that  nation  would  first  determine  whether  the  ques 
tion  was  of  sufficient  importance  to  authorize  a  coun 
cil.  If  they  arrived  at  an  affirmative  conclusion,  they 
immediately  sent  out  runners  to  the  Cayugas,  the 
nation  nearest  -in  position,  with  a  belt  of  wampum. 
This  belt  announced  that,  on  a  certain  day  thereafter, 
at  such  a  place,  and  for  such  and  such  purposes,  men 
tioning  them,  a  council  of  the  League  would  assemble. 
The  Cayugas  then  notified  the  Onondagas,  they  the 
Oneidas,  and  these  the  Mohawks. (81)  Each  na 
tion,  within  its  own  confines,  spread  the  information 
far  and  wide ;  and  thus,  in  a  space  of  time  astonish 
ingly  brief,  intelligence  of  the  council  was  heralded 
from  one  extremity  of  their  country  to  the  other.  It 
produced  a  stir  among  the  people  in  proportion  to 
the  magnitude  and  importance  of  the  business  to  be 
transacted.  If  the  subject  was  calculated  to  arouse 
a  deep  feeling  of  interest,  one  common  impulse  from 
the  Hudson  to  the  Niagara,  and  from  the  St.  Law 
rence  to  the  Susquehanna,  drew  them  towards  the  coun 
cil-fire.  Sachems,  chiefs  and  warriors,  women,  and 

104 


AH  -SO-QUA-TA. 

Pi  PCS 


CIVIL    COUNCILS 

even  children,  deserted  their  hunting  grounds  and 
woodland  seclusions,  and  taking  the  trail,  literally 
flocked  to  the  place  of  council.  When  the  day  ar 
rived,  a  multitude  had  gathered  together,  from  the 
most  remote  and  toilsome  distances,  but  yet  animated 
by  an  unyielding  spirit  of  hardihood  and  endurance. 

Their  mode  of  opening  a  council,  and  proceeding 
with  the  business  before  it,  was  extremely  simple,  yet 
dilatory,  when  contrasted  with  the  modes  of  civilized 
life.  Questions  were  usually  reduced  to  single  propo 
sitions,  calling  for  an  affirmative  or  negative  response, 
and  were  thus  either  adopted  or  rejected.  When  the 
sachems  were  assembled  in  the  midst  of  their  people, 
and  all  were  in  readiness  to  proceed,  the  envoy  was 
introduced  before  them.  One  of  the  sachems,  by 
previous  appointment,  then  arose,  and  having  thanked 
the  Great  Spirit  for  his  continued  beneficence  in  per 
mitting  them  to  meet  together,  he  informed  the  envoy 
that  the  council  was  prepared  to  hear  him  upon  the 
business  for  which  it  had  convened.  The  council 
being  thus  opened,  the  representative  proceeded  to 
unfold  the  objects  of  his  mission.  He  submitted  his 
propositions  in  regular  form,  and  sustained  them  by 
such  arguments  as  the  case  required.  The  sachems 
listened  with  earnest  and  respectful  attention  to  the 
end  of  his  address,  that  they  might  clearly  understand 
the  questions  to  be  decided  and  answered.  After  the 
envoy  had  concluded  his  speech,  he  withdrew  from 
the  council,  as  was  customary,  to  await  at  a  distance 
the  result  of  its  deliberations.  It  then  became  the 
duty  of  the  sachems  to  agree  upon  an  answer ;  in 
doing  which,  as  would  be  expected,  they  passed 

105 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

through  the  ordinary  routine  of  speeches,  consulta 
tions,  and  animated  discussions.  Such  was  the  usual 
course  of  proceeding  in  the  Iroquois  council.  Varia 
tions  might  be  introduced  by  circumstances. 

At  this  place  another  peculiar  institution  of  the 
Ho-de -no-sau-nee  is  presented.  All  the  sachems  of  the 
League,  in  whom  originally  was  vested  the  entire  civil 
power,  were  required  to  be  of  "  one  mind,"  to  give 
efficacy  to  their  legislation.  Unanimity  was  a  funda 
mental  law.  The  idea  of  majorities  and  minorities  was 
entirely  unknown  to  our  Indian  predecessors. (30) 

To  hasten  their  deliberations  to  a  conclusion,  and 
ascertain  the  result,  they  adopted  an  expedient  which 
dispensed  entirely  with  -the  necessity  of  casting  votes. 
The  founders  of  the  Confederacy,  seeking  to  obviate 
as  far  as  possible  altercation  in  council,  and  to  facili 
tate  their  progress  to  unanimity,  divided  the  sachems 
of  each  nation  into  classes,  usually  of  two  and  three 
each,  as  will  be  seen  by  referring  to  the  table  of 
sachemships.(47)  No  sachem  was  permitted  to  express 
an  opinion  in  council,  until  he  had  agreed  with  the 
other  sachem  or  sachems  of  his  class,wupon  the  opinion 
to  be  expressed,  and  had  received  an  appointment  to 
act  as  speaker  for  the  class.  Thus  the  eight  Seneca 
sachems,  being  in  four  classes,  could  have  but  four 
opinions  ;  the  ten  Cayuga  sachems  but  four.  In  this 
manner  each  class  was  brought  to  unanimity  within 
itself.  A  cross-consultation  was  then  held  between 
the  four  sachems  who  represented  the  four  classes  ; 
and  when  they  had  agreed,  they  appointed  one  of 
their  number  to  express  their  resulting  opinion,  which 
was  the  answer  of  their  nation.  The  several  nations 

1 06 


U NAN  I  MITT 

having,  by  this  ingenious  method,  become  of  "  one 
mind  "  separately,  it  only  remained  to  compare  their 
several  opinions,  to  arrive  at  the  final  sentiment  of 
all  the  sachems  of  the  League.  This  was  effected  by 
a  conference  between  the  individual  representatives 
of  the  several  nations  ;  and  when  they  had  arrived 
at  unanimity,  the  answer  of  the  League  was  deter 
mined. 

The  sovereignty  of  the  nations,  by  this  mode  of 
giving  assent,  was  not  only  preserved,  but  made  sub 
servient  to  the  effort  itself  to  secure  unanimity.  If 
any  sachem  was  obdurate  or  unreasonable,  influences 
were  brought  to  bear  upon  him  which  he  could  not 
well  resist ;  and  it  was  seldom  that  inconvenience 
resulted  from  their  inflexible  adherence  to  the  rule. 
When,  however,  all  efforts  to  produce  unanimity  failed 
of  success,  the  whole  matter  was  laid  aside.  Farther 
action  became  at  once  impossible.  A  result,  either 
favorable  or  adverse,  having,  in  this  way,  been  reached, 
it  was  communicated  to  the  envoy  by  a  speaker 
selected  for  the  purpose.  This  orator  was  always 
chosen  from  the  nation  with  whom  the  council  origi 
nated,  and  it  was  usual  with  him  to  review  the  whole 
subject  presented  to  the  council  in  a  formal  speech, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  announce  the  conclusions  to 
which  the  sachems  of  the  Confederacy  had  arrived. 
This  concluding  speech  terminated  the  business  of 
the  council,  and  the  Indian  diplomatist  took  his 
departure. 

The  war  against  the  Eries,  which  resulted  in  the 
extermination  or  expulsion  of  that  nation  from  the 
western  part  of  this  State,  about  the  year  1654,  was 

107 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

declared  by  the  sachems  of  the  Iroquois  in  general 
council.  The  French  war,  also,  which  they  waged 
with  such  indomitable  courage  and  perseverance  for 
so  many  years,  was  resolved  upon  in  the  same  man 
ner.  Their  traditions  record  other  struggles  with 
Indian  nations,  some  of  which  were  engaged  in  by  the 
League,  and  others  either  commenced  or  assumed  by 
a  nation  separately.  At  the  beginning  of  the  Amer 
ican  Revolution,  the  Iroquois  could  not  agree  in 
council  to  make  war  as  a  confederacy  upon  our  con 
federacy.  A  number  of  the  Oneida  sachems  firmly 
resisted  the  assumption  of  hostilities,  and  thus  de 
feated  the  measure  as  an  act  of  the  League,  for  the 
want  of  unanimity.  Some  of  the  nations,  however, 
especially  the  Mohawks,  were  so  interlinked  with  the 
British,  that  neutrality  was  impossible.  Under  this 
pressure  of  circumstances,  it  was  resolved  in  council 
to  suspend  the  rule,  and  leave  each  nation  to  engage 
in  the  war  upon  its  own  responsibility .(28 

In  the  councils  of  the  Iroquois,  the  dignity  and 
order  ever  preserved  have  become  proverbial.  The 
gravity  of  Nestor  was  exemplified  by  their  sages,  and 
more  than  the  harmony  of  the  Grecian  chiefs  existed 
among  their  sachems.  In  their  elevation  to  the  high 
est  degree  of  political  distinction  ever  reached  by  any 
Indian  race,  except  the  Aztec,  the  clearest  evidence  is 
presented  of  the  wisdom  and  prudence  with  which 
these  councils  watched  over  the  public  welfare. 

The  succession  of  the  Ruling  Body,  whether  secured 
by  election,  or  by  laws  of  inheritance,  is  an  event  of 
deep  importance  to  the  people,  whose  personal  secur 
ity  and  welfare  are  to  a  large  extent  under  the  guar- 

108 


MOURNING    COUNCILS 

dianship  of  their  rulers.  It  seems  to  have  been  the 
aim  of  the  Ho-de -no-sau-nee  to  avoid  the  dangers  of  an 
hereditary  transmission  of  power,  without  fully  adopt 
ing  the  opposite  principle  of  a  free  election,  founded 
upon  merit  and  capacity.  Their  system  was  a  modi 
fication  of  the  two  opposite  rules,  and  claims  the 
merit  of  originality,  as  well  as  of  adaptation  to  their 
social  and  political  condition. 

It  is  in  accordance  with  the  principles,  and  neces 
sary  to  the  existence  of  an  oligarchy,  that  the  ruling 
body  should  possess  a  general,  if  not  an  absolute 
authority  over  the  admission  of  its  members,  and  over 
the  succession  to  its  dignities,  where  the  vacancies  are 
occasioned  by  death.  In  some  respects  the  oligarchy 
of  the  Iroquois  was  wider  than  those  of  antiquity. 
The  tribes  retained  the  power  of  designating  succes 
sors,  independent  of  the  oligarchs ;  while,  for  the 
security  of  the  latter,  the  number  was  limited  by  the 
fundamental  law.  It  was  the  province  of  the  ruling 
body  to  "  raise  up  "  the  sachems  selected  by  the 
tribes,  and  to  invest  them  with  office.  In  the  ancient 
oligarchies,  which  were  less  liberal  and  much  less  sys 
tematic  in  their  construction,  the  whole  power  of 
making  rulers  appears  to  have  been  appropriated  by 
the  rulers  themselves. 

To  perform  the  ceremony  adverted  to,  of  "  raising 
up  "  sachems,  and  of  confirming  the  investiture  of 
such  chiefs  as  had  been  previously  raised  up  by  a  na 
tion,  the  Mourning  council  was  instituted.  Its  name, 
Hen-nun-do-nuti-seh)  signifies,  with  singular  propriety, 
"  a  mourning  council ; "  as  it  embraced  the  two-fold 
object  of  lamenting  the  deceased  with  suitable  solem- 

109 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

nities,  and  of  establishing  a  successor  in  the  sachem- 
ship  made  vacant  by  his  demise. 

Upon  the  death  of  a  sachem,  the  nation  in  which 
the  loss  had  occurred  had  power  to  summon  a  council, 
and  designate  the  day  and  place.  If  the  Oneidas,  for 
example,  had  lost  a  ruler,  they  sent  out  runners  at  the 
earliest  convenient  day,  with  "  belts  of  invitation  "  to 
the  sachems  of  the  League,  and  to  the  people  at  large, 
to  assemble  around  their  national  council-fire  at  G'a- 
no-a-ld -hale .  The  invitation  was  circulated  in  the 
same  manner,  and  with  the  same  celerity  as  in  con 
voking  a  civil  council.  These  belts  or  the  strings  of 
wampum,  sent  out  on  such  occasions,  conveyed  a  la 
conic  message  :  "  the  name  "  of  the  deceased  "  calls 
for  a  council."  It  also  announced  the  place  and  the 
time. 

The  name  and  the  appeal  fell  not  in  vain  upon  the 
ear  of  the  Iroquois.  There  was  a  potency  in  the 
name  itself  which  none  could  resist.  It  penetrated 
every  seclusion  of  the  forest ;  and  reached  every  ga-no- 
sote  upon  the  hillside,  on  the  margin  of  the  lakes,  or 
in  the  deep  solitudes  of  the  wood.  No  warrior,  wise 
man  or  chief  failed  to  hear,  or  could  withstand  the 
call.  A  principle  within  was  addressed,  which  ever 
responded  ;  respect  and  veneration  for  the  sachems  of 
the  League. 

For  these  councils,  and  the  festivities  with  which 
they  were  concluded,  the  Ho-de-no-sau-nee  ever  re 
tained  a  passionate  fondness.  No  inclemency  of  sea 
son,  nor  remoteness  of  residence,  nor  frailty  of  age  or 
of  sex  offered  impassable  obstructions.  To  that 
hardy  spirit  which  led  the  Iroquois  to  traverse  the 

no 


MOURNING    COUNCILS 

war-paths  of  the  distant  south  and  west,  and  to  leave 
their  hunting  trails  upon  the  Potomac  and  Ohio,  the 
distance  to  a  council  within  their  immediate  territories 
would  present  inconsiderable  hindrances.  From  the 
Mohawk  to  the  Genesee,  they  forsook  their  hunting- 
grounds,  and  their  encampments,  and  put  themselves 
upon  the  trail  for  the  council-fire.  Old  men  with 
gray  hairs  and  tottering  steps,  young  men  in  the  vigor 
of  youth,  warriors  inured  to  the  hardships  of  incessant 
strife,  children  looking  out,  for  the  first  time,  upon 
life,  and  women,  with  their  infants  encased  in  the  ga- 
os'-ha,  all  performed  the  journey  with  singular  rapidity 
and  endurance.  From  every  side  they  bent  their 
footsteps  towards  the  council ;  and  when  the  day  ar 
rived,  a  large  concourse  of  warriors,  chiefs,  wise  men 
and  sachems,  from  the  most  remote  as  well  as  the  sub 
jacent  parts  of  their  territory,  greeted  each  other  be 
side  the  council-fire  of  the  Oneidas. 

This  council,  although  entirely  of  a  domestic  char 
acter,  was  conducted  with  many  ceremonies.  Before 
the  arrival  of  the  day  announced  by  the  belt,  the 
several  nations  entered  the  country  of  the  Oneidas  in 
separate  bands,  and  encamped  at  a  distance  from  the 
council-house.  To  advance  at  once,  would  have  been 
a  violation  of  Iroquois  usages.  Runners  were  sent  on 
by  the  approaching  nation  to  announce  its  arrival,  and 
it  remained  encamped  until  the  Oneidas  had  signified 
their  readiness  for  its  reception.  On  the  day  appointed, 
if  the  necessary  arrangements  had  been  perfected,  a 
rude  reception  ceremony  opened  the  proceedings. 
The  several  nations  in  separate  trains,  each  one  pre 
ceded  by  its  civil  and  military  dignitaries,  drew  simul- 

iii 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

taneously  towards  the  council-fire,  and  were  received 
and  welcomed  by  the  Oneidas  in  a  ceremonious  man 
ner.  The  latter  advanced  to  meet  them  at  a  distance 
from  the  village,  where  a  temporary  council-fire  was 
kindled ;  after  which  the  chief  personages  of  the  ad 
vancing  bands  walked  around  the  fire,  singing  the 
songs  of  mourning  designed  for  the  occasion.  When 
the  songs  were  finished,  the  pipe  of  peace  was  circu 
lated.  Speeches  were  exchanged  between  the  parties, 
and  the  belts  of  wampum,  with  which  the  council  had 
been  called,  were  returned.  The  several  bands,  upon 
the  completion  of  these  ceremonies,  advanced  in  file,  a 
funeral  procession,  and  singing  the  mourning  songs,  to 
the  general  council-fire  at  the  Indian  village,  where  the 
people  arrayed  themselves  in  two  divisions.  The 
Mohawks,  Onondagas  and  Senecas,  who,  as  elsewhere 
stated,  were  brother  nations  to  each  other,  arid  fathers 
to  the  other  three,  seated  themselves  upon  one  side  of 
the  fire.  On  the  other  side  were  arranged  the  Onei 
das,  Cayugas  and  Tuscaroras,  who,  in  like  manner, 
were  brothers  to  each  other,  but  children  to  the  three 
first.  By  their  peculiar  customs,  if  the  deceased  sachem 
belonged  to  either  of  the  three  elder  nations,  he  was 
mourned  as  a  father  by  the  three  junior ;  and  it  be 
came  the  duty  of  the  latter  to  perform  the  ceremony 
of  lamentation  prescribed  by  their  usages  for  the  de 
ceased,  and  afterwards  that  of  raising  up  his  successor. 
If,  on  the  contrary,  the  departed  ruler  belonged  to 
either  of  the  junior  nations,  as  in  the  case  supposed, 
it  cast  upon  the  elder  nations  the  duty  of  lamenting 
his  death  as  a  child,  in  the  customary  form,  and  of 
installing  a  successor  in  the- vacant  sachemship. 

112 


MOURNING    COUNCILS 

These  observances  were  performed  with  the  accus 
tomed  gravity  and  earnestness  of  the  red  man  ;  and 
were,  in  themselves,  neither  devoid  of  interest,  nor 
unadapted  to  impress  the  mind.  The  lament  was  a 
tribute  to  the  virtues,  and  to  the  memory  of  the  de 
parted  sachem,  a  mourning  scene,  in  which  not  only 
the  tribe  and  nation  of  the  deceased,  but  the  League 
itself  participated.  Surely,  a  more  delicate  testimonial 
of  affection  than  would  have  been  looked  for  among 
our  Indian  predecessors.  The  ceremony  of  raising  up 
a  successor,  which  followed,  was  a  succession  of  musi 
cal  chants,  with  choruses,  intermingled  with  speeches 
and  responses.  Upon  the  whole  scene,  rendered  wild 
and  picturesque  by  the  variety  of  eostumes,  there  rested 
a  spirit  of  silence  and  solemnity  which  invested  it  with 
singular  interest. 

A  prominent  part  of  the  ceremonial  consisted  in  the 
repetition  of  their  ancient  laws  and  usages,  and  an  ex 
position  of  the  structure  and  principles  of  the  League, 
for  the  instruction  of  the  newly-inducted  rulers.  In 
the  midst  of  each  division,  the  chief  personages  of  the 
elder  and  junior  nations  were  grouped  together. 
Between  the  two  groups  of  sachems,  the  wise-man 
who  conducted  the  observances  walked  to  and  fro,  re 
peating  those  traditionary  lessons,  and  unfolding  those 
regulations,  which  had  been  handed  down  from  the 
foundation  of  the  Confederacy.  Some  of  them  were 
salutary  and  instructive,  while  the  most  were  indicative 
of  wisdom  and  forethought.  Among  the  injunctions 
left  by  Da-ga-no-we'-da,  the  founder  of  the  League, 
there  was  one  designed  to  impress  upon  their  minds 

the  necessity  of  union  and  harmony.      It  was  clothed 

VOL.  i.  — 8  n 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

in  a  figurative  dress,  as  is  the  custom  of  the  red  man 
when  he  would  produce  a  vivid  impression.  He  en 
joined  them  to  plant  a  tree  with  four  roots,  branching 
severally  to  the  north,  south,  east  and  west.  Beneath 
its  shade  the  sachems  of  the  League  must  sit  down 
together  in  perpetual  unity,  if  they  would  preserve  its 
stability,  or  secure  the  advantages  it  was  calculated  to 
bestow.  If  they  did  so,  the  power  of  the  Ho-de-no- 
sau-nee  would  be  planted  as  firmly  as  the  oak,  and 
the  blasts  of  adverse  fortune  would  rage  against  it  in 


vain.(83> 


The  laws  explained  at  different  stages  of  the  cere 
monial,  were  repeated  from  strings  of  wampum,  into 
which  they  "  had  been  talked  "  at  the  time  of  their 
enactment.  In  the  Indian  method  of  expressing  the 
idea,  the  string,  or  the  belt  can  tell,  by  means  of  an 
interpreter,  the  exact  law  or  transaction  of  which  it 
was  made,  at  the  time,  the  sole  evidence.  It  operates 
upon  the  principle  of  association,  and  thus  seeks  to 
give  fidelity  to  the  memory.  These  strings  and  belts 
were  the  only  visible  records  of  the  Iroquois ;  and  were 
of  no  use  except  by  the  aid  of  those  special  personages 
who  could  draw  forth  the  secret  records  locked  up  in 
their  remembrance.(82) 

It  is  worthy  of  note,  that  but  little  importance  was 
attached  to  a  promise  or  assurance  of  a  foreign  power, 
unless  belts  or  strings  were  given  to  preserve  it  in 
recollection.  Verbal  propositions,  or  those  not  con 
firmed  by  wampum,  were  not  considered  worthy  of 
special  preservation.1  As  the  laws  and  usages  of  the 

1   "  It   is  obvious  to    all    who    are    the    least    acquainted    with    Indian 
affairs,   that   they   regard  no  message  or  invitation,   be  it  of  what   conse- 

114 


WA  MP  U  M 

Confederacy  were  intrusted  to  the  guardianship  of  such 
strings,  one  of  the  Onondaga  sachems,  Ho-no-we-na-(o, 
was  constituted  "  Keeper  of  the  Wampum,"  and  was 
required  to  be  versed  in  its  interpretation.(83) 

On  these  occasions,  the  wise-man  who  officiated 
interpreted  strings  from  time  to  time,  and  carried  them 
from  one  division  of  sachems  to  the  other.  In  reply, 
as  many  others  were  subsequently  returned  with  sim 
ilar  forms  and  explanations.  In  this  manner,  with 
a  multitude  of  forms  and  ceremonies,  consuming  the 
greater  part  of  a  day  in  their  repetition,  were  their 
sachems  raised  up.  The  proceedings  were  closed  with 
a  presentation  of  the  newly-invested  rulers  to  the 
people,  under  the  names  of  their  respective  sachem- 
ships,  which,  from  that  day  forth,  they  were  permit 
ted  to  assume. 

Up  to  this  stage  of  the  Council,  neither  gaiety  nor 
mirthfulness  was  exhibited  by  the  old  or  young. 
The  people  were  in  mourning  for  the  deceased,  and 
rendering  the  last  acts  of  public  respect.  When,  how 
ever,  these  offices  had  been  performed,  and  the  places 
left  vacant  among  the  rulers  had  been  filled,  the 
reasons  for  lamentation  had  disappeared,  and  with  them 
disappeared  the  outward  signs.  The  evening  was 
given  up  to  feasting,  and  to  their  religious  and  do 
mestic  dances.  It  was  not  uncommon  to  spend  sev 
eral  days  in  these  festivities  ;  devoting  the  days  in 
succession  to  athletic  games,  and  the  evenings  to  the 
feast,  and  to  the  social  dance. 

quence  it  will,  unless  attended  or  confirmed  by  strings  or  belts  of  wam 
pum,  which  they  look  upon  as  we  our  letters,  or  rather  bonds."  Letter 
of  Sir  W.  Johnson,  1753.  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  ii.  p.  624. 


LEAGUE    OF  THE    IRO^UOIS 

The  succession,  under  these  simple  regulations,  was 
rendered  entirely  free  from  turmoil  and  strife;  and 
became  not  only  an  easy  transaction,  but  an  impos 
ing,  and,  to  them,  instructive  ceremonial.  Upon  the 
sachems  was  bestowed  sufficient  control  over  the  trans 
mission  of  the  sachemships  for  their  own  protection  ; 
while  the  still  more  important  power  of  naming  those 
to  be  raised  up,  and  of  deposing  the  unfaithful,  which 
was  retained  by  the  tribes,  secured  the  people  from 
oppression  and  misgovernment. 

A  wider  dissimilarity,  than  subsists  between  the 
institutions  of  our  Indian  predecessors  and  our  own, 
cannot  be  easily  conceived.  They  are  as  unlike  as 
the  races  themselves  in  their  essential  characteristics. 
If,  however,  a  correct  impression  is  desired  of  the 
state  of  society,  political  and  social,  in  which  the  Iro- 
quois  have  existed,  and  in  which  they  have  developed 
whatever  of  character  they  possessed,  it  must  be 
sought  in  their  customs  and  institutions  ;  it  must  be 
furnished  by  the  practical  operation  of  that  stupen 
dous  system  of  inter-relationships  by  which  they  were 
bound  together,  and  from  which  every  act  in  their 
social  intercourse  received  a  tinge. 

The  degree  of  social  intercourse  between  the  na 
tions  of  the  League  was  much  greater  than  would 
at  first  be  suggested. (41)  In  the  pursuits  of  the 
chase  and  of  conquest,  and  in  attendance  upon  coun 
cils,  they  traversed  the  whole  territory  far  and  near. 
Their  trails  penetrated  the  forest  in  every  direction, 
and  their  main  thoroughfares  were  as  well  beaten  as 
the  highways  now  passing  over  the  same  lines.  With 
their  habits  of  travelling  over  the  whole  area  of  the 

116 


FESTIVITIES 

State,  they  were  doubtless  more  familiar  than  ourselves 
with  its  hills  and  plains,  rivers  and  lakes,  its  wild 
retreats  and  forest  concealments.  Much  of  their  social 
intercourse,  especially  between  the  nations,  was  around 
their  council-fires.  The  Councils  themselves  formed 
a  bond  of  union,  and  drew  them  together  instinctively. 
They  furnished  the  excitements  and  the  recreations  of 
Indian  life,  as  well  as  relieved  the  monotony  of  peace. 
It  was  here  they  recounted  their  exploits  upon  the 
war-path,  or  listened  to  the  eloquence  of  favorite 
chiefs.  Here  they  offered  tributes  of  respect  to  those 
deceased  sachems  who  had  rendered  themselves  illus 
trious  by  public  services  ;  or  listened  to  the  laws  and 
regulations  of  their  ancestors,  which  were  explained  by 
their  sages  in  the  ceremonial  of  raising  up  successors. 
It  was  here,  also,  that  they  celebrated  their  athletic 
games  with  Olympic  zeal ;  and  joined  in  those  national 
dances,  some  of  which  were  indescribably  beautiful  and 
animated. 

Custom  required  the  particular  tribe  in  which 
sachems  had  been  raised  up,  to  furnish  a  daily  enter 
tainment  to  the  multitude  during  the  continuance  of 
the  council.  The  pursuits  of  the  day  were  suspended 
as  the  shades  of  evening  began  to  fall,  and  they  all  sat 
down  to  a  common  repast,  which  the  matrons  of  the 
tribe  had  prepared.  After  the  business  upon  which 
the  council  convened  had  been  consummated,  each 
day  in  succession  was  devoted  to  the  simple  but  diver 
sified  amusements  of  Indian  life,  the  twilight  to  the 
feast,  and  the  evening  to  the  dance.  The  wild  notes 
of  their  various  tunes,  accompanied  by  the  turtle-shell 
rattle  and  the  drum  ;  the  rattles,  which  entered  into  the 

117 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I  R  O      U  O  I  S 


costumes  of  the  warriors,  and  the  noise  of  the  moving 
throng,  all  united,  sent  forth  a  "  sound  of  revelry  " 
which  fell  with  strange  accents  in  the  hours  of  night 
upon  the  solemn  stillness  of  the  woods.  This  sound 
of  pleasure  and  amusement  was  continued  from  day 
to  day,  until  "  pleasure  itself  became  satiety,"  and 
amusement  had  lost  its  power  to  charm. 

When  the  spirit  of  festivity  had  become  exhausted, 
the  fire  of  the  Hen-nun-do-nuk-seh  was  raked  together, 
and  the  several  nations  bent  their  way  homeward 
through  the  forest.  Silence  once  more  resumed  her 
sway  over  the  deserted  scene,  as  the  sounds  of  merri 
ment  subsided,  and  the  lingering  hum  of  the  dissolving 
council  died  insensibly  away.  Obscurity  next  ad 
vanced  with  stealthy  mien,  and  quickly  folding  the 
incidents  of  this  sylvan  pageant  in  her  dusky  mantle, 
she  bore  them,  with  their  associations,  their  teachings, 
and  their  remembrances,  into  the  dark  realm  of 
Oblivion  ;  from  which  their  recall  would  be  as  hope 
less  as  would  be  the  last  shout  which  rang  along  the 
valley. 

The  celebration  of  their  religious  festivals  was 
through  the  instrumentality  of  councils,  and  these 
form  the  third  class.  But  as  they  are  described  in 
the  succeeding  pages,  no  further  mention  of  them 
will  now  be  made,  except  to  notice  them  as  one  of  the 
species  into  which  the  councils  of  the  Iroquois  are 
properly  divisible.  In  addition  to  the  religious  coun 
cils  which  were  held  at  the  period  of  their  festivals, 
the  mourning  council  was  always  made  an  occasion 
for  religious  and  moral  instruction.  Many  of  its 
exercises  were  of  a  strictly  religious  character,  and  it 

118  " 


RELIGIOUS    COUNCILS 

would  be  more  proper  to  designate  it  as  a  religious 
council,  than  by  any  other  name,  but  for  the  circum 
stance  that  its  object  was  to  raise  up  rulers,  and  its 
ceremonies  were  entirely  distinct  from  those  at  the 
regular  festivals. 

The  influence  of  the  civil,  mourning  and  religious 
councils  upon  the  people  would,  of  itself,  furnish  an 
extensive  subject  of  inquiry.  Like  all  the  pursuits  of 
Indian  life,  they  changed  but  little  from  age  to  age, 
and  were  alike  in  their  essential  characteristics,  in  their 
mode  of  transacting  business,  in  their  festivities,  and 
in  the  spirit  by  which  they  were  animated.  From  the 
frequency  of  their  occurrence,  and  the  deep  interest 
with  which  they  were  regarded,  it  is  evident  that  they 
exercised  a  vast  influence  upon  the  race.  The  inter 
course  and  society  which  they  afforded,  had,  undoubt 
edly,  a  power  to  humanize  and  soften  down  the 
asperities  of  character  which  their  mode  of  life  was 
calculated  to  produce. 


119 


Chapter  VI 


Species  of  Government  —  Progress  of  Governments  from  Monarchy 
to  Democracy — Illustrated  by  a  View  of  Grecian  Institutions  — 
The  League  an  Oligarchy —  Liberty  of  the  People  — Stability  of 
the  League  — Prospects  at  the  Discovery — Its  Decline 

THE  Ruling  Body  of  the  League,  with  its 
powers,  and  the  tenure  of  office  of  its  mem 
bers  —  the  division  of  the  people  into  tribes, 
with  the  cross-relationships  between  them — the  laws  of 
succession  with  their  incidents  —  and  the  councils  of  the 
Iroquois  with  their  mode  of  proceeding,  spirit  and  ef 
fects,  have  severally  been  brought  under  consideration. 

Upon  the  facts  derived  from  these  sources  of  in 
vestigation,  the  true  character  of  the  Iroquois  gov 
ernment  must  be  settled.  If  it  is  referable  to  any 
determined  species,  the  constituent  parts  and  gen 
eral  features  of  the  League,  which  have  formed  the 
subjects  of  the  preceding  chapters,  will  determine  its 
position  in  the  scale  of  civil  organizations  established 
by  political  writers. 

In  their  original,  well-developed  institutions,  and 
in  their  government,  so  systematic  in  its  construc 
tion,  and  so  liberal  in  its  administration,  there  is 
much  to  enforce  a  tribute  of  respect  to  the  intelli 
gence  of  our  Indian  predecessors.  Without  such 
institutions,  and  without  that  animating  spirit  which 
they  nourished  and  diffused,  it  would  be  difficult  to 
account  for  the  production  of  such  men  as  have 

120 


SPECIES   OF   GOVERNMENT 

sprung  up  among  the  Iroquois.  The  development 
of  national  intellect  depends  chiefly  upon  external, 
reciprocal  influences,  and  is  usually  proportionate  to 
the  vitality  and  motive  which  the  institutions  of  a 
people  possess  and  furnish. 

To  illustrate,  substantially,  the  nature  of  their 
government,  it  will  be  necessary  to  notice  the  several 
species  which  have  been  instituted  among  men,  the 
natural  order  of  their  origination,  the  relations  in 
which  they  mutually  stand  to  each  other,  and  their 
general  characteristics.  In  no  other  way  can  a  clear 
conception  be  obtained  of  the  character  of  the  Iroquois 
government,  and  the  relation  which  it  sustains  to  other 
political  fabrics.  No  apology,  therefore,  will  be  nec 
essary  for  the  digression. 

Aristotle,  and  other  Grecian  political  writers,  rec 
ognized  but  three  species  of  government :  the  monar 
chical,  the  aristocratical,  and  the  democratical ;  the 
rule  of  "  one,"  the  "  few,"  and  the  "  many."  Every 
other  variety  was  regarded  as  the  wreck,  or  perversion, 
of  one  of  the  three.  If,  for  example,  the  first  was 
corrupted,  it  became  a  tyranny  ;  if  the  second  degen 
erated,  it  was  styled  an  oligarchy  ;  and  if  the  last 
became  tumultuous,  it  was  called  an  ochlocracy.  A 
polity,  or  the  rule  of  a  large  body  of  select  citizens, 
was  a  milder  form  of  oligarchy.  This  classification 
admits  of  a  qualification  to  the  definition  of  an  aristoc 
racy  and  oligarchy,  hereafter  to  be  noticed. 

Modern  political  writers  also  recognize  three  spe 
cies,  as  laid  down  by  Montesquieu  :  the  despotic,  the 
monarchical,  and  the  republican.  The  aristocratic 
and  democratic  forms  of  the  Greeks  are  included  in 

121 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

the  republican  form  of  modern  times  :  while  the 
monarchical  government  of  the  present  day  —  "the 
rule  of  a  single  person  by  fixed  laws  "  —  was  entirely 
unknown  to  the  ancient  Greeks.  It  is  further  ob 
servable  that  a  despotism,  as  defined  by  Montesquieu, 
corresponds  precisely  with  the  monarchy  of  Aristotle. 

The  order  of  their  origination  suggests  an  impor 
tant  general  principle  ;  that  there  is  a  regular  pro 
gression  of  political  institutions,  from  the  monarchical, 
which  are  the  earliest  in  time,  on  to  the  democratical, 
which  are  the  last,  the  noblest,  and  the  most  intellec 
tual.  This  position  can  be  established  by  the  rise 
and  development  of  the  Grecian  institutions,  and  may 
be  further  illustrated  by  the  progressive  change  in 
the  spirit  and  nature  of  other  governments. 

An  unlimited  monarchy,  or  "the  rule  of  a  single 
individual  according  to  his  own  will,"  is  the  form 
of  government  natural  to  a  people  when  in  an  un 
civilized  state,  or  when  just  emerging  from  barbarism. 
In  the  progress  of  time,  by  the  growth  and  expansion 
of  civil  liberty,  the  monarchy  becomes  liberalized 
or  limited,  and  a  few  steps  forward  introduce  universal 
democracy.  Hence  it  is  noticeable  in  the  rise  of  all 
races,  and  in  the  formation  of  all  states,  that  the  idea 
of  chief  and  follower,  or  sovereign  and  people,  is 
of  spontaneous  suggestion.  This  notion  may  be 
regarded  as  inherent  to  society  in  its  primitive  state. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  when  the  Hellenic 
tribes  came  down  from  Thessaly,  and  finally  settled 
themselves  upon  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean, 
their  political  relations  were  those  of  chief  and  fol 
lower.  After  they  had  become  subdivided  into  a 

122 


GA-KA-AH  OR  SKIRT, 


VIEW   OF   GRECIAN  INSTITUTIONS 

large  number  of  petty  states,  and  migrations  and 
intermixtures  had  subsided,  leaving  each  principality 
under  its  own  ruler,  and  to  the  formation  of  its  own 
institutions,  the  monarchical  form  of  government 
became  fully  "established.  The  small  territory  of 
Greece  was  parcelled  out  between  nearly  twenty  petty 
kingdoms.  During  the  Heroic  ages,  which  are  un 
derstood  to  have  commenced  with  this  inundation 
of  the  Grecian  territory  by  the  Hellenes,  and  to  have 
terminated  with  the  Trojan  war,  a  period  of  about 
two  hundred  years,  the  kingly  government  was  the 
only  one  among  the  Greeks. 

At  the  close  of  the  Heroic  ages,  a  new  state  of 
affairs  became  apparent.  Around  the  reigning  fam 
ilies  in  the  several  kingdoms,  there  had  sprung  up 
a  class  of  Eupatrids,  or  nobles,  who  were  in  possession 
of  most  of  the  landed  estates.  Having  elevated  them 
selves  far  above  the  mass  of  the  people,  in  the  social 
scale,  they  gradually  absorbed  political  powers  which 
had  before  been  vested  in  the  kings.  By  the  silent 
but  natural  growth  of  this  aristocracy,  continued 
encroachments  were  made  upon  the  prerogatives  of 
royalty,  until  at  last  the  kings  were  brought  down 
to  a  level  with  their  Eupatrids.  An  aristocracy  was 
thus  substituted  for  monarchy ;  and  nearly  all  the 
states  of  Greece,  in  their  political  progress  towards 
democracy,  passed  out  of  the  monarchical  into  the  aris- 
tocratical  form  of  government. 

This  form,  although  indicative  of  more  liberality 
than  the  former,  and  adapted  to  the  state  of  civil 
society  then  existing,  pressed  heavily  upon  the  peo 
ple  ;  and  while  it  existed,  was  unfavorable  to  the  ele- 

123 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I R O ^U O I S 

vation  of  the  race.  The  Demos,  or  common  people, 
were  free,  but  were  excluded  from  all  political  privi 
leges  ;  hence,  with  the  increase  of  their  intelligence, 
would  be  excited  jealousies  of  the  incumbent  class. 
At  times,  the  very  existence  of  the  aristocracy  de 
pended  upon  the  forcible  subjection  of  the  Demos ; 
for  when  the  great  and  just  sentiment  of  "  political 
equality  "  began  to  be  coupled  with  that  of  "  personal 
liberty,"  no  form  of  government  could  rest  in  per 
manent  security,  which  limited  the  one,  or  denied  the 
other.  The  Grecian  mind  was  eminently  progressive. 
No  power  could  subdue  or  enslave  that  native  energy, 
which  had  exemplified  itself  in  the  hardy  enterprises 
of  the  Heroic  ages.  Nothing  could  repress  or  last 
ingly  fetter  that  majestic  intellect,  out  of  which,  even 
then,  had  sprung  a  system  of  mythology  destined  to 
infuse  itself  into  the  literature  of  all  generations,  and 
to  quicken  the  intellects  of  every  clime  —  a  system  so 
remarkable  as  an  exhibition  of  the  unguided  devotional 
nature  of  man,  and  so  brilliant  as  a  creation  of  the 
imagination,  that  it  may  be  characterized  as  the  great 
est  production  of  genius  and  credulity  which  ever 
emanated  from  the  mind  of  man. 

In  the  progress  of  events,  the  aristocracies  were  suc 
cessfully  invaded  by  an  uprising  of  men  of  wealth,  or 
of  capacity,  from  among  the  common  people.  These 
ambitious  plebeians  demanded  a  place  in  the  ruling 
body,  and  if  refused,  they  became  the  champions  of 
the  people,  and  engaged  in  measures  for  the  over 
throw  of  the  government.  Such  difficulties  were 
usually  avoided  by  admitting  these  new  families  to  a 
place  among  the  Eupatrids,  and  to  a  participation  in 

124 


VIEW  OF   GRECIAN  INSTITUTIONS 

the  administration.  In  this  way  the  aristocracy  of 
wealth  and  talent  was  in  a  measure  placed  upon  an 
equality  with  that  of  birth  ;  and  by  the  act  the  gov 
ernment  itself  was  widened,  or  liberalized. 

These  inroads  upon  the  aristocracy,  which  generally 
resulted  in  the  infusion  of  the  popular  element,  may 
be  regarded  as  the  introduction  or  commencement  of 
the  oligarchy.  The  difference  between  the  two  species 
is  to  be  sought  in  the  spirit  by  which  each  respectively 
was  actuated,  and  not  in  their  forms ;  for  the  same 
body  of  aristocrats  usually  became  oligarchs  by  a 
change  in  the  spirit  of  the  government.  When  an 
aristocracy  became  corrupt  and  odious  to  the  people, 
and  sought  only  to  perpetuate  its  own  power,  it  be 
came,  in  the  Grecian  sense,  a  faction,  an  oligarchy. 
It  ceased  to  be  the  rule  of  the  "  best  men  "  (apioToi), 
and  became  the  rule  of  the  "  few "  (oXtyot).  This 
definition  admits  of  a  qualification.  When  an  aristoc 
racy  became  widened  or  liberalized,  by  the  admission 
of  men  of  capacity  to  an  equal  position,  and  the  gov 
ernment  assumed  a  milder  spirit,  the  aristocracy 
would,  in  effect,  be  changed,  but  not  into  a  faction. 
It  would  be  as  unlike  a  rigorous  aristocracy  as  an  oli 
garchical  faction,  and  may  be  denominated  a  simple  or 
liberal  oligarchy.  The  government  of  the  Iroquois 
falls  under  this  precise  definition.  It  cannot  be  called 
an  aristocracy,  because  the  sachems  of  the  League 
possessed  no  landed  estates,  which,  it  is  well  known, 
are  the  only  true  foundation  of  an  aristocracy  ;  neither 
were  their  titles  or  privileges  hereditary,  in  the  strict 
sense,  which  is  another  important  element  of  an  aris 
tocracy.  Their  government,  however,  was  the  rule 

I25 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

of  "  the  few."  It  was  an  aristocracy  liberalized,  until 
it  stood  upon  the  very  verge  of  democracy.  It  an 
swers  to  the  idea  of  an  oligarchy,  which  is  the  last 
form  of  government  but  one,  in  the  progressive 
series. 

The  governments  of  the  Grecian  states  appear  to 
have  oscillated  for  centuries  between  the  rigorous  aris 
tocracies,  oligarchical  factions,  and  milder  oligarchies. 
These  forms  were  rather  transition  than  permanent 
conditions  of  their  civil  institutions.  During  the 
period  of  their  prevalence,  the  people,  who,  as  before 
remarked,  were  personally  free,  but  debarred  from 
political  privileges,  were  gradually  improving  their 
condition  by  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  and  consoli 
dating  their  strength  by  the  uprearing  of  flourishing 
cities.  With  the  increase  of  their  respectability,  and 
the  expansion  of  their  power,  the  struggle  with  the  in 
cumbent  class  was  continued  with  greater  and  still 
greater  success.  Principles  of  government  became 
better  understood,  and  more  enlarged  views  of  the 
rights  of  man  continued  to  quicken  the  Grecian  mind. 
Every  successive  age  added  to  the  popular  intelli 
gence  ;  and  the  people  gradually,  but  constantly,  con 
tinued  to  repossess  themselves  of  their  original 
authority.  The  growth  of  liberty  and  free  institutions 
among  the  Greeks  was  slow,  but  irresistible.  The 
struggle  of  the  people  for  emancipation  lasted  from 
generation  to  generation,  from  century  to  century ; 
until,  having  emerged  from  .the  darkness  of  barbarism, 
and  worked  their  way  through  every  species  of  gov 
ernment  ever  devised  by  the  genius  of  man,  they 
achieved  at  last  a  triumph ;  and  their  institutions, 

126 


VIEW   OF   GRECIAN  INSTITUTIONS 

which  had  been  planted  and  nourished  during  this 
march  of  ages,  finally  ripened  into  universal  democ 
racy. 

In  the  history  of  the  States  of  Greece,  there  is 
noticeable  in  the  midst  of  a  wide  diversity  of  events, 
a  great  uniformity  of  progress  —  with  a  difference  in 
the  period  of  the  development  of  political  changes,  a 
marked  tendency  to  the  same  results.  Every  change 
in  their  institutions,  from  the  era  of  absolute  mon 
archy,  made  them  more  liberal ;  but  it  required  up 
ward  of  seven  centuries  to  liberalize  them  into  a  "  fin 
ished  democracy  which  fully  satisfied  the  Greek  notion  ; 
a  state  in  which  every  attribute  of  sovereignty  might 
be  shared,  without  respect  to  rank  or  property,  by 
every  freeman."  The  Greeks  began  with  monarchy, 
and  having  passed  through  all  the  intermediate  species 
and  shades  of  government  in  the  progressive  series, 
they  finally  developed  their  highest  capacities,  their 
most  brilliant  genius,  under  the  bounding  pulse  of  an 
extreme,  even  enthusiastic  democracy.  How  truthful 
the  exclamation  of  Herodotus :  "  Liberty  is  a  brave 
thing." 

1  The  Trojan  War  closed  1184  B.  c.,  and  the  States  of  Greece  soon 
afterwards  passed  out  of  the  monarchical  form  of  government.  At 
Athens  it  was  abolished  in  1068  B.  c.  But  not  until  about  the  year 
470  B.  C.,  when  Aristides  the  Just  removed  the  last  aristocratical  features 
from  the  Athenian  institutions,  could  Athens  be  called  a  "  finished 
democracy.'"  He  broke  up  the  distinctions  between  the  classes  which 
Solon  had  established,  and  opened  all  the  dignities  of  the  State  to 
every  citizen.  Between  the  Trojan  war  and  this  last  period,  the  Atheni 
ans  had  passed  through  Monarchy,  Tyranny,  Aristocracy,  Faction,  An 
archy,  Oligarchy,  Polity,  and  limited  Democracy.  With  the  legislation 
of  Aristides  commenced  the  rapid  elevation  of  the  city  of  Minerva,  and 
of  that  noble,  unequalled  race. 

127 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

The  same  tendency  of  institutions  towards  democ 
racy,  as  races  elevate  themselves  in  the  scale  of  civiliza 
tion,  can  be  observed  in  the  progressive  improvement 
of  British  institutions.  No  people  have  been  sub 
jected  to  such  tests,  civil  and  religious ;  and  issued 
from  the  throes  of  revolution  with  more  character, 
more  civilization,  more  majesty  of  intellect,  for 
achievements  in  legislation,  science  and  learning,  than 
our  parent,  Anglo-Saxon  race.  Their  career,  with  all 
its  vicissitudes,  from  the  union  of  the  Heptarchies 
under  Egbert,  down  to  the  final  settlement  of  the 
government  on  the  expulsion  of  the  second  James,  is 
full  of  instruction  —  full  of  great  lessons.  They  have 
tested  monarchy  in  all  its  degrees  of  strength  and 
weakness,  of  popularity  and  odium,  of  oppression  and 
dependence.  Their  nobles  have  enjoyed  all  the  priv 
ileges,  immunities,  and  powers,  which  possession  of 
the  landed  estates,  the  vassalage  of  the  people,  and 
independence  of  the  crown  could  secure;  while  in  turn 
they  have  been  humble  and  submissive,  even  servile, 
under  the  arbitrary  sway  of  tyrannous  kings.  The 
people,  before  the  time  of  Edward  the  First,  were 
cyphers  in  the  State.  Since  then,  they  have  suffered 
religious  bondage,  and  the  oppression  of  a  feudal  aris 
tocracy.  In  the  progress  of  events,  however,  they 
have  constantly  enlarged  the  quantity  of  their  liberty, 
and  strengthened  the  guarantees  of  personal  security. 
But  if  they  finally  achieved  that  personal  freedom 
which  the  Grecian  citizen  never  lost,  they  never 
have  secured  that  "  equality  of  privileges  "  which  was 
the  constant  aspiration  of  the  Greek  until  attained, 
which  was  the  watchword  in  the  struggle  for  American 

128 


THE    LEAGUE    AN    OLIGARCHT 

freedom,  and  which  now  lies  at  the  foundation  of  our 
own  political  edifice. 

The  British  government  has  been  liberalized  from 
age  to  age,  until  it  may  now  be  said  t  stand  in 
trenched  upon  the  borders  of  free  institutions. 

Returning  from  this  digression,  which  was  designed 
to  illustrate  the  position,  not  very  recondite,  of  a  pro 
gression  of  institutions,  from  the  monarchical,  the 
earliest  form  of  political  society,  on  to  the  democrat- 
ical,  the  last,  and  most  truly  enlightened  ;  we  can  now 
take  up  the  government  of  the  Iroquois,  and  deter 
mine  the  position  which  it  occupies  between  the  two 
extremes  of  monarchy  on  the  one  hand,  and  democ 
racy  on  the  other. 

The  Iroquois  had  passed  out  of  the  earliest  form 
of  government,  that  of  chief  and  follower,  which  is 
incident  both  to  the  hunter  and  nomadic  states,  into 
the  oligarchical  form.  It  is  obvious  that  the  hunter 
life  is  incompatible  with  monarchy,  except  in  its  minia 
ture  form  of  chief  and  follower;  and  the  Ho-de-no- 
sau-nee^  in  improving  upon  this  last  relation,  passed 
over  the  monarchical,  into  the  rule  of  "  the  few." 
Several  tribes  first  united  into  one  nation.  The 
people  mingled  by  intermarriage,  and  the  power  of 
the  chiefs  ceased  to  be  several,  and  became  joint. 
This  gave  to  the  nation  an  aristocratical,  or  oligarch 
ical  form  of  government,  according  to  the  spirit  by 
which  it  was  actuated.  By  a  still  higher  effort  of 
legislation,  several  nations  were  united  in  a  league  or 
confederacy  ;  placing  the  people  upon  an  equality,  and 
introducing  a  community  of  privileges.  The  national 
rulers  then  became  in  a  united  body  the  rulers  of  the 
VOL.  i.— 9  129 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRQ  QUO  IS 

League.  In  this  manner  would  be  constituted  oli 
garchies  within  an  embracing  oligarchy,  imperium  in 
imperio,  presenting  the  precise  government  of  the 
Iroquois,  and  with  great  probability  the  exact  manner 
of  its  origination,  growth  and  final  settlement. 

The  Grecian  oligarchies  do  not  furnish  an  exact 
type  of  that  of  our  Indian  predecessors.  In  its  con 
struction  the  latter  was  more  perfect,  systematic  and 
liberal  than  those  of  antiquity.  There  was  in  the 
Indian  fabric  more  of  fixedness,  more  of  dependence 
upon  the  people,  more  of  vigor.  It  would  be  difficult 
to  find  a  fairer  specimen  of  the  government  of  the  few, 
than  the  one  under  consideration.  In  the  happy  con 
stitution  of  its  ruling  body,  and  in  the  effective  secur 
ity  of  the  people  from  misgovernment  it  stands 
unrivalled.  In  assigning  to  this  government  its 
specific  name,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  adopt  the  etymol 
ogy  of  the  word  oligarchy,  the  rule  of  the  few,  reject 
ing  the  usual  Grecian  acceptation  of  the  term,  a 
degenerated  aristocracy.  The  substitution  of  the  female 
line  for  the  male,  effecting  thereby  the  disinheritance 
of  the  son,(57)  the  partially  elective  character  of  the 
sachemships,  the  absence  of  all  landed  estates,  and  the 
power  of  deposing  lodged  with  the  tribes,  are  reasons 
conclusive  for  regarding  the  government  of  the  Iro 
quois  as  an  oligarchy  rather  than  an  aristocracy. 

The  spirit  which  prevailed  in  the  nations  and  in 
the  Confederacy  was  that  of  freedom.  The  people 
appear  to  have  secured  to  themselves  all  the  liberty 
which  the  hunter  state  rendered  desirable.  They  fully 
appreciated  its  value,  as  is  evinced  by  the  liberality  of 
their  institutions.  The  red  man  was  always  free  from 

130 


LIBERTY    OF    THE    PEOPLE 

political  bondage,  and,  more  worthy  still  of  remem 
brance,  his  "  free  limbs  never  wore  a  shackle."  His 
spirit  could  never  be  bowed  in  servitude.  In  the 
language  of  Charlevoix,  the  Iroquois  were  "entirely 
convinced  that  man  was  born  free,  that  no  power  on 
earth  had  any  right  to  make  any  attempts  against 
his  liberty,  and  that  nothing  could  make  him  amends 
for  its  loss."  It  would  be  difficult  to  describe  any 
political  society,  in  which  there  was  less  of  oppression 
and  discontent,  more  of  individual  independence  and 
boundless  freedom.  The  absence  of  family  distinc 
tions,  and  of  all  property,  together  with  the  irresist 
ible  inclination  for  the  chase,  rendered  the  social 
condition  of  the  people  peculiar  to  itself.  It  secured 
to  them  an  exemption  from  the  evils,  as  well  as 
denied  to  them  the  refinements,  which  flow  from  the 
possession  of  wealth,  and  the  indulgence  of  the  social 
relations.(12G) 

At  this  point  the  singular  trait  in  the  character  of 
the  red  man  suggests  itself,  that  he  never  felt  the 
"  power  of  gain."  The  auri  sacra  fames  of  Virgil,  the 
studium  lucri  of  Horace,  never  penetrated  his  nature. 
This  great  passion  of  civilized  man,  in  its  use  and 
abuse  his  blessing  and  his  curse,  never  roused  the 
Indian  mind.(103)  It  was  doubtless  the  great  rea 
son  of  his  continuance  in  the  hunter  state  ;  for  the 
desire  of  gain  is  one  of  the  earliest  manifestations  of 
progressive  mind,  and  one  of  the  most  powerful  pas 
sions  of  which  the  mind  is  susceptible.  It  clears  the 
forest,  rears  the  city,  builds  the  merchantman  —  in  a 
word,  it  has  civilized  our  race. 

All  things  considered,  the  Iroquois  oligarchy  excites 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

a  belief  of  its  superiority  over  those  of  antiquity. 
Those  of  Greece  were  exceedingly  unstable,  and 
therefore  incline  us  to  regard  them  as  transition  states 
of  their  institutions  ;  while  that  of  the  Ho-de -no-sau- 
nee  was  guarded  in  so  many  ways  for  the  resistance  of 
political  changes,  that  it  would  have  required  a  very 
energetic  popular  movement  for  its  overthrow.  The 
former  retained  many  elements  of  aristocracy,  while 
the  latter  had  become  so  far  liberalized  as  to  be  almost 
entirely  free.  Without  the  influence  of  cities,  which 
no  people  construct  who  live  in  the  hunter  state,  and 
the  important  consequences  which  result  from  the 
aggregation  of  society  into  large  communities,  the 
government  of  the  Iroquois  would  doubtless  have 
retained  its  oligarchical  form  through  many  gener 
ations.  It  would  have  lasted  until  the  people  had 
abandoned  the  hunter  state ;  until  they  had  given  up 
the  chase  for  agriculture,  the  arts  of  war  for  those  of 
industry,  the  hunting-ground  and  the  fishing  encamp 
ment  for  the  village  and  the  city. 

It  will  not  be  necessary  to  extend  the  inquiry,  to 
exhibit  more  fully  the  gradual  changes  in  the  govern 
ment  of  the  Iroquois,  by  which  it  was  brought  upon 
the  verge  of  free  institutions.  The  creation  of  the 
class  of  chiefs  furnishes  the  clearest  evidence  of  the 
development  of  the  popular  element.  The  proofs  of 
its  extreme  liberality  have  been  sufficiently  exhibited 
in  the  structure  of  the  government  itself.  Reflections 
could  be  multiplied  upon  its  spirit,  its  influence  upon 
the  people,  its  operative  force  in  the  development  of 
talent,  and  its  adaptation  to  produce  its  historical 
results  ;  but  it  is  not  deemed  necessary  to  carry  for- 

132 


STABILITY    OF    THE    LEAGUE 

ward  reflections  of  this  description.  An  outline  of 
the  structure  of  the  League  has  been  drawn,  and  from 
its  general  characteristics  its  principles  can  be  easily 
deduced. 

Under  this  simple  but  beautiful  fabric  of  Indian 
construction  arose  the  power  of  the  Iroquois,  reach 
ing,  at  its  full  meridian,  over  a  large  portion  of  our 
republic.  In  their  Long  House,  which  opened  its 
door  upon  Niagara,  they  found  shelter  in  the  hour 
of  attack,  resources  for  conquest  in  the  season  of 
ambitious  projects,  and  happiness  and  contentment  in^ 
the  days  of  peace.  In  adaptation  to  their  mode  of 
life,  their  habits  and  their  wants,  no  scheme  of  govern 
ment  could  have  been  devised  better  calculated  for 
their  security  against  outward  attack,  their  triumph 
upon  the  war-path,  and  their  internal  tranquillity.  It 
is,  perhaps,  the  only  league  of  nations  ever  instituted 
among  men,  which  can  point  to  three  centuries  of 
uninterrupted  domestic  unity  and  peace. 

The  institutions  which  would  be  expected  to  exist 
under  such  a  political  system  as  that  of  the  Iroquois, 
would  necessarily  be  simple.  Their  mode  of  life  and 
limited  wants,  the  absence  of  property  in  a  compar 
ative  sense,  and  the  infrequency  of  crime  dispensed 
with  a  vast  amount  of  the  legislation  and  machinery 
incident  to  the  protection  of  civilized  society.  While, 
therefore,  it  would  be  unreasonable  to  seek  those  high 
qualities  of  mind  which  result  from  ages  of  cultivation, 
in  such  a  rude  state  of  existence,  it  would  be  equally 
irrational  to  regard  the  Indian  character  as  devoid 
of  all  those  higher  characteristics  which  ennoble  the 
human  race.  If  he  has  never  contributed  a  page  to 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I R O $U O I S 

science,  nor  a  discovery  to  art ; (93)  if  he  loses  in  the 
progress  of  generations  as  much  as  he  gains ;  still 
there  are  certain  qualities  of  his  mind  which  shine  forth 
in  all  the  lustre  of  natural  perfection.  His  simple 
f-  integrity,  his  generosity,  his  unbounded  hospitality, 
his  love  of  truth,  and,  above  all,  his  unshaken  fidelity 
—  a  sentiment  inborn,  and  standing  out  so  conspic 
uously  in  his  character,  that  it  has  not  untruthfully 
become  its  characteristic :  all  these  are  adornments  of 
humanity,  which  no  art  of  education  can  instil,  nor 
refinement  of  civilization  can  bestow.  If  they  exist 
at  all,  it  is  because  the  gifts  of  the  Deity  have  never 
been  perverted. 

There  was,  however,  a  fatal  deficiency  in  Indian 
society,  in  the  non-existence  of  a  progressive  spirit. 
The  same  rounds  of  amusement,  of  business,  of 
warfare,  of  the  chase,  and  of  domestic  intercourse 
continued  from  generation  to  generation.  There  was 
neither  progress  nor  invention,  nor  increase  of  political 
wisdom.  Old  forms  were  preserved,  old  customs 
adhered  to.  Whatever  they  gained  upon  one  point 
they  lost  upon  another,  leaving  the  second  generation 
but  little  wiser  than  the  first.  The  Iroquois,  in  some 
respects,  were  in  advance  of  their  red  neighbors. 
They  had  attempted  the  establishment  of  their  insti 
tutions  upon  a  broader  basis,  and  already  men  of  high 
capacity  had  sprung  up  among  them,  as  their  political 
system  unfolded.  If  their  Indian  empire  had  been 
suffered  to  work  out  its  own  results,  it  is  still 
problematical  whether  the  vast  power  they  would  have 
accumulated,  and  the  intellect  which  would  have  been 
developed  by  their  diversified  affairs,  would  not, 

T34 


PROSPECTS    AT    THE    DISCOVERT 

together,  have  been  sufficiently  potent  to  draw  the 
people  from  the  hunter  into  the  agricultural  state. 
The  hunter  state  is  the  zero  of  human  society,  and 


V 

while    the    red    man   was    bound    by   its    spell,  there* 
was  no  hope  of  his  elevation. 

In  a  speculative  point  of  view,  the  institutions  of 
the  Iroquois  assume  an  interesting  aspect.  Would 
they,  at  maturity,  have  emancipated  the  people  from 
their  strange  infatuation  for  a  hunter  life';  as  those  of 
the  Toltecs  and  Aztecs  had  before  effected  the  disen- 
thralment  of  those  races  in  the  latitudes  of  Mexico? 
It  cannot  be  denied  that  there  are  some  grounds  for 
the  belief  that  their  institutions  would  eventually  have 
ripened  into  civilization.  The  Iroquois,  at  all  times, 
have  manifested  sufficient  intellect  to  promise  a  high 
degree  of  improvement,  if  it  had  once  become  awak 
ened  and  directed  to  right  pursuits.  Centuries,  how 
ever,  might  have  been  requisite  to  effect  the  change. 

But  their  institutions  have  a  real,  a  present  value, 
for  what  they  were,  irrespective  of  what  they  might 
have  become.  The  Iroquois  were  our  predecessors 
in  the  sovereignty.  Our  country  they  once  called 
their  country,  our  rivers  and  lakes  were  their  rivers 
and  lakes,  our  hills  and  intervales  were  also  theirs. 
Before  us  they  enjoyed  the  beautiful  scenery  spread 
out  between  the  Hudson  and  Niagara,  in  its  wonder 
ful  diversity  from  the  pleasing  to  the  sublime.  Before 
us,  were  they  invigorated  by  our  climate,  and  were 
nourished  by  the  bounties  of  the  earth,  the  forest  and 
the  stream.  The  tie  by  which  we  are  thus  connected 
carries  with  it  the  duty  of  doing  justice  to  their 
memory,  by  preserving  their  name  and  deeds,  their 

'35 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

customs  and  their  institutions,  lest  they  perish  from 
remembrance.  We  cannot  wish  to  tread  ignorantly 
upon  those  extinguished  council-fires,  whose  light,  in 
the  days  of  aboriginal  dominion,  was  visible  over  half 
the  continent. 

The  political  structures  of  our  primitive  inhabitants 
have,  in  general, proved  exceedingly  unsubstantial.  Iso 
lated  nations,  by  some  superiority  of  institutions,  or 
casual  advantage  of  location,  sprang  up  with  an  ener 
getic  growth,  and  for  a  season  spread  their  dominion 
far  and  wide.  After  a  brief  period  of  prosperity,  they 
were  borne  back  by  adverse  fortune  into  their  original 
obscurity  ;  thus  rendering  these  boundless  territories 
the  constant  scene  of  human  conflict,  and  of  the  rise 
and  fall  of  Indian  sovereignties.  It  was  reserved  for 
the  Iroquois  to  rest  themselves  upon  a  more  durable 
foundation,  by  the  establishment  of  a  League.  This 
alliance  between  their  nations  they  cemented  by  the 
imperishable  bands  of  tribal  relationship.  At  the 
epoch  of  Saxon  occupation,  they  were  rapidly  building 
up  an  empire,  which  threatened  the  absorption  or  ex 
termination  of  the  whole  Indian  family  east  of  the 
Mississippi.  Their  power  had  become  sufficient  to 
set  at  defiance  all  hostile  invasions  from  contiguous 
nations;  and  the  League  itself,  while  it  suffered  no  loss 
of  numbers  by  emigrating  bands,  was  endued  with  a 
capacity  for  indefinite  expansion.  At  the  periods  of 
their  separate  discovery,  the  Aztecs  on  the  south,  and 
the  Iroquois  in  the  north  were  the  only  Indian  races 
upon  the  continent,  whose  institutions  promised,  at 
maturity,  to  ripen  into  civilization.  Such  were  the 
condition  and  prospects  of  this  Indian  League,  when 

136 


ITS    DECLINE 

Hendrick  Hudson,  more  than  two  centuries  since 
(1609),  sailed  up  the  river  which  constituted  their  east 
ern  boundary.  This  silent  voyage  of  the  navigator 
may  be  regarded  as  the  opening  event  in  the  series, 
which  resulted  in  reversing  the  political  prospects  of 
the  Ho-de-no-sau-nee,  and  in  introducing  into  their  Long 
House  an  invader,  more  relentless  in  his  purposes,  and 
more  invincible  in  arms,  than  the  red  men  against 
whose  assaults  it  had  been  erected,  w  ^  '  fa*  p^f-v 
Their  council-fires,  so  far  as  they  are  emblematical  of 
civil  jurisdiction,  have  long  since  been  extinguished, 
their  empire  has  terminated,  and  the  shades  of  evening 
are  now  gathering  thickly  over  the  scattered  and  feeble 
remnants  of  this  once  powerful  League.  Race  has 
yielded  to  race,  the  inevitable  result  of  the  contact  of 
the  civilized  with  the  hunter  life.  Who  shall  relate 
with  what  pangs  of  regret  they  yielded  up,  from  river 
to  river  and  from  lake  to  lake,  this  fair  broad  domain 
of  their  fathers.  The  Iroquois  will  soon  be  lost  as  a 
people,  in  that  night  of  impenetrable  darkness  in  which 
so  many  Indian  races  have  been  enshrouded.  Already 
their  country  has  been  appropriated,  their  forests 
cleared,  and  their  trails  obliterated.  The  residue  of 
this  proud  and  gifted  race,  who  still  linger  around  their 
native  seats,  are  destined  to  fade  away,  until  they  be 
come  eradicated  as  an  Indian  stock.  We  shall  .ere 
long  look  backward  to  the  Iroquois,  as  a  race  blotted 
from  existence ;  but  tq  remember  them  as  a  people 
whose  sachems  had  no  cities,  whose  religion  had  no 
temples,  and  whose  government  had  no  record. 


BOOK   SECOND 
SPIRIT   OF  THE  LEAGUE 


BOOK    II 
SPIRIT    OF   THE    LEAGUE 


Chapter    I 


Faith  of  the  Iroquois—  Belief  in  the  Great  Spirit  —  The  Evil-Minded 
—  He'-No,  The  Thunderer  —  Ga'-o,  Spirit  ot  the  Winds — The 
Three  Sisters  — The  Invisible  Aids  —  Witches  —  False  Faces  — 
Legendary  Literature —Immortality  of  the  Soul  —  Future  Pun 
ishments  —  Moral  Sentiments  —  Burial  Customs  —  Abode  of 
the  Great  Spirit  —  Washington  —  Spirituality  of  their  Faith  —  Its 
Influence 

THE  mind  is,  by  nature,  full  of  religious  ten 
dencies.  Man,  when  left  to  the  guidance  of 
his  own  inward  persuasions,  searches  after  the 
Author  of  his  being,  and  seeks  to  comprehend  the 
purposes  of  his  existence,  and  his  final  destiny.  In 
every  age  and  condition  of  society,  the  best  thoughts 
of  the  most  gifted  intellects  have  been  expended  upon 
religious  subjects.  The  conclusions  reached  by  reflec 
tive  mind,  under  the  inspiration  of  the  works  of  nature, 
are  propagated  from  generation  to  generation,  until  they 
grow,  by  natural  enlargement,  into  a  system  of  fixed 
Beliefs.  Upon  them  is  afterwards  engrafted  a  system  of 
Worship.  The  two  flourish  side  by  side  with  perpetual 
vigor.  They  become  interwoven  with  the  civil  and  social 
institutions  of  men,  and  by  nurture  and  habit  acquire 
such  a  firm  hold  upon  the  affections,  that  they  form  a 
part  of  the  living,  thinking,  acting  mind.  Without  a 

141 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

knowledge,  therefore,  of  the  religious  life  of  a  people, 
their  institutions,  and  their  political  and  domestic  trans 
actions  would  be  wholly  inexplicable. 

Remarkable  features  are  exhibited  in  the  religious 
system  of  the  Iroquois,  when  contrasted  with  other 
systems  of  similar  origin.  Emanating  from  the  mind 
of  man  alone,  originating  in  the  simplest  form  of  hu 
man  society,  it  would  naturally  be  encumbered  by  the 
vagaries  of  fancy,  and  be  upheld  by  affection  rather 
than  logic.  But  man,  shut  out  from  the  light  of  revela 
tion,  and  left  to  construct  his  own  theology,  will  discover 
some  part  of  the  truth,  as  shadowed  forth  by  the  works 
of  nature.  This  will  illuminate  his  footsteps,  in  pro 
portion  to  his  appreciation  of  its  excellence,  and  his 
faithful  adherence  to  its  divine  monitions.  The  faith 
and  worship  of  the  Iroquois  are  entitled  to  a  favorable 
consideration,  by  reason  of  the  principles  of  belief  which 
they  recognized,  and  the  fundamental  truths  which 
they  inculcated.  Established  upon  some  of  those 
luminous  principles  which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  sound 
theology,  the  blemishes  in  their  spiritual  edifice  are  com 
pensated,  in  some  degree,  by  the  purity  of  its  elements. 

The  Greeks  discovered  the  traces  of  divinity  in 
every  object  in  nature ;  in  the  affections  and  passions, 
in  the  elements  of  earth  and  air,  in  the  rivulet,  the 
mountain  and  the  sea.  Ascending  from  these  types 
to  their  several  supposed  originals,  they  grasped  at 
Deity  in  a  multitude  of  fragments,  as  proclaimed  by 
the  divided  works  of  creation.  Failing,  with  all  the 
acumen  and  inspiration  of  their  marvellous  intellect,  to 
raise  their  mental  vision  above  Olympus,  and  to  ascend 
from  united  nature  up  to  the  indivisible  and  Eternal 

142 


FAITH    OF    THE   IRO^UOIS 

One,  they  perfected  and  beautified  that  stupendous 
production  of  genius  and  credulity,  the  polytheism 
of  the  ancient  world. 

Between  the  popular  belief  of  the  ancients  and  that 
of  the  Iroquois  there  are  some  coincidences.  This 
similarity  of  ideas  is  observable  in  a  portion  of  their 
legends  and  fables,  but  more  especially  in  their  notions 
of  the  spiritual  world.  Like  the  ancients,  they  peopled 
the  invisible  world  with  spiritual  existences.  In  their 
inferior  spiritualities,  they  fell  infinitely  below  the 
splendid  creations  of  the  ancient  mythology  ;  but  in 
their  knowledge  of  the  Supreme  Being,  they  rose,  in 
many  respects,  far  above  the  highest  conceptions  of 
the  ancient  philosophy.  It  will  be  at  once  conceded, 
that  the  Supreme  Intelligence  announced  by  Anaxago- 
ras,  Socrates  and  Plato,  the  Numen  Pr<£stantissim<e 
Mentis  of  the  ancient  philosophical  religionists,  was  in 
itself  a  more  vague  and  indefinite  conception,  than 
that  divine  Being  worshipped  by  the  entire  red  race 
under  the  appellation  of  the  Great  Spirit.'62' 96) 

Upon  the  first  great  question  in  theology,  the  Stoic, 
the  Epicurean,  and  the  other  sects  of  philosophers 
equally  reached  the  same  fundamental  conclusion,  esse 
Deos,  "the  Gods  exist."  This  truth,  they  affirmed, 
was  not  only  revealed  by  the  works  of  nature,  but  it 
was  also  innate,  and  written  in  the  mind  of  man.1  But 

1  Omnibus  enim  innatum  est  et  in  animo  quasi  insculptum,  esse  Deos. 
Cicero  De  Natura  Deorum,  Lib.  ii.  cap.  iv.  Solus  enim  vidit,  (Epicurus,) 
primum  esse  Deos,  quod  in  omnium  animis  eorum  notionem  impressisset 
ipsa  natura.  Ib.  Lib.  i.  c.  xvi.  Quid  enim  potest  esse  tarn  apertum  tamque 
perspicuum,  quum  caslum  suspeximus,  caelestiaque  contemplati  sumus, 
quam  esse  aliquod  numen  prasstantissimse  mentis,  quo  hsec  segantur  ?  Ib. 
Lib.  ii.  c.  ii. 

143 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

in  a  multitude  of  Gods,  each  clothed  with  separate  and 
distinct  offices  and  powers,  and  all  subject  to  a  grada 
tion  in  rank,  the  popular  belief  reposed.  The  idea 
of  one  Supreme  Being  was  a  sublime  induction  of  phi 
losophy,  and  far  above  the  level  of  popular  intelligence. 
This  great  truth,  therefore,  failed  tD  become  even  feebly 
incorporated  with  the  overshadowing  mythology  of 
antiquity.  With  the  red  race,  ho  vever,  the  belief  not 
only  prevailed  that  a  Great  Spirit  existed,  but  they 
made  the  same  induction  from  the  works  of  nature  the 
foundation  of  their  religious  system. 

There  is  also  a  coincidence  of  belief  in  relation  to 
the  origin  of  spiritual  existences.  The  ancient  mythol 
ogy  taught,  that  the  Gods  were  born,  natives  esse  Deos, 
and  furnished,  at  the  same  time,  their  genealogy,  with 
all  the  minuteness  of  legendary  license.  The  Iroquois, 
also,  believed  that  the  Great  Spirit  was  born ;  and 
tradition  has  handed  down  the  narrative,  with  embel 
lishments  of  fancy  which  Hesiod  himself  would  not 
have  disdained.1 

Whether  the  Gods  ruled  the  universe,  and  were  in 
terested  in  the  affairs  of  men,  was  a  disputed  question 
in  the  ancient  schools.  The  Epicureans  taught  that 
they  were  unmindful  of  all  human  transactions,  and 
spent  their  existence  in  ease  and  pleasure.2  But  the 
Stoics  took  the  opposite  view,  and  not  only  affirmed 

1  The  tradition  of  the  birth  of  the  Good  Spirit  and  the  Evil  Spirit  is 
much  the  same  among  the  numerous  Indian  races  within  the  Republic.  It 
is  not  peculiar  to  the  Iroquois. 

2  Nihil  enim  agit  :  nullis  occupationibus  est  implicatus  :  nulla  opera 
molitur  :  sua  sapientia  et  virtute  gaudet  :  habet  exploratum,  fore  se  sem 
per  turn  in  maximis,  turn  in  asternis  voluptatibus.  Hunc  Deum  rite  bea- 
tum  dixerimus.  Cic.  De  Nat.  Deo.  Lib.  i.  cap.  xix. 

144 


BELIEF    IN    THE    GREAT    SPIRIT 

their  constant  supervision  and  intervention  in  human 
affairs,  but  also  their  active  administration  of  the  works 
of  nature.1  This  was  also  the  popular  belief.  The 
notions  of  the  Iroquois  approached  nearest  to  the 
latter.  In  error  in  ascribing  to  the  Great  Spirit  a 
finite  origin,  and  with  feeble  conceptions  of  his  attri 
butes,  they  yet  believed  him  to  be  their  creator,  ruler 
and  preserver ;  and  that  in  him  was  the  residuum  of 
power. 

The  creation  of  the  world  was  also  a  subject  which 
divided  the  ancient  schools.  In  a  belief  in  the  eternity 
of  matter,  they,  in  general,  concurred.  Plato  and  the 
Stoics,  however,  taught  that  the  visible  universe  was 
fashioned  and  constructed  by  the  direct  agency  of 
God.  This  opinion,  not  of  the  creation  of  matter,  but 
of  the  formation  of  the  world,  encountered  the  ridicule 
of  the  Epicureans.2  This  is  one  of  those  questions 
with  which  human  wisdom  is  unable  to  cope.  In  their 
religious  system,  the  Iroquois  have  but  little  to  do 
with  the  creation  of  the  visible  universe.  According 
to  the  tradition,  the  earth  grew  miraculously,  a  self- 
prepared  abode  for  the  Great  Spirit.  Concerning  the 
universe  which  existed  before  the  advent  of  the  Great 
Spirit,  they  pretend  to  no  knowledge.  To  the  Great 
Spirit,  however,  the  Iroquois  ascribed  creative  power. 

1  Sunt  autem   alii  philosophi,  et   hi   quidem  magni  atque  nobilis,  qui 
Deorum  mente  atque  ratione  omnem   mundum  administrari  et  regi  cen- 
seant  :  neque  vero  id  solum,  sed  etiam  ab  iisdem  vitae  hominum  consuli  et 
provideri.      Id.  Lib.  i.  cap.  ii. 

2  Quibus  enim  oculis  animi  intueri  potuit  vester  Plato  fabricam  illam 
tanti    operis,   qua  construi   a   Deo  atque   aedificari  mundum   facit  ?      Quse 
molitio  ?   quae  ferramenta  ?   qui  rectes  ?  quse  machinae  ?   qui  ministri  tanti 
muneris    fuerunt  ?      Quemadmodurn   autem    obedire    et    parere    voluntati 
architect!  aer,  ignis,  aqua,  terra  potuerunt.      Id.  1.  i.  c.  viii. 

VOL.  I.— 10 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

He  created  not  only  the  animal  and  vegetable  world, 
but  also  adapted  the  elements,  and  the  whole  visible 
universe  to  the  wants  of  man. 

That  the  Indian,  without  the  aid  of  revelation, 
should  have  arrived  at  a  fixed  belief  in  the  existence  of 
one  Supreme  Being,  has  ever  been  matter  of  surprise 
and  admiration.  In  the  existence  of  the  Great  Spirit, 
an  invisible  but  ever-present  Deity,  the  universal  red 
race  believed.  His  personal  existence  became  a  first 
principle,  an  intuitive  belief,  which  neither  the  lapse 
of  centuries  could  efface,  nor  inventions  of  man  could 
corrupt.  By  the  diffusion  of  this  great  truth,  if  the 
Indian  did  not  escape  the  spell  of  superstition,  which 
resulted  from  his  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  Deity, 
and  his  ignorance  of  natural  phenomena;  yet  he  was 
saved  from  the  deepest  of  all  barbarisms,  an  idolatrous 
worship.  The  Iroquois  believed  in  the  constant 
superintending  care  of  the  Great  Spirit.  He  ruled 
and  administered  the  world,  and  the  affairs  of  the  red 
race.  As  Moses  taught  that  Jehovah  was  the  God  of 
Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  and  of  his  chosen  people, 
so  the  Iroquois  regarded  the  Great  Spirit  as  the  God 
of  the  Indian  alone.  They  looked  up  to  him  as  the 
author  of  their  being,  the  source  of  their  temporal 
blessings,  and  the  future  dispenser  of  the  felicities  of 
their  heavenly  home.  To  him  they  rendered  constant 
thanks  and  homage  for  the  changes  in  the  seasons,  the 
fruits  of  the  earth,  the  preservation  of  their  lives,  and 
for  their  social  privileges  and  political  prosperity  ;  and 
to  him  they  addressed  their  prayers  for  the  continuance 
of  his  protecting  care.  Their  knowledge  of  the  attri 
butes  of  the  Great  Spirit  was  necessarily  limited  and 

146 


BELIEF  IN    THE    GREAT    SPIRIrI 

imperfect.  Of  his  goodness  and  beneficence  they  had 
a  full  impression,  and  some  notions,  also,  of  his  jus 
tice  and  perfection.  But  they  could  not  fully  conceive 
of  the  omnipresence  of  the  Great  Spirit,  except 
through  the  instrumentality  of  a  class  of  inferior 
spiritual  existences,  by  whom  he  was  surrounded. 
His  power  was  evidenced  by  the  creation  of  man. 
He  was  also  believed  to  be  self-existent  and  immor 
tal.  The  ennobling  and  exalting  views  of  the  Deity 
which  are  now  held  by  enlightened  and  Christian  na 
tions  would  not  be  expected  among  a  people  excluded 
from  the  light  of  revelation.  In  the  simple  truths  of 
natural  religion  they  were  thoroughly  indoctrinated, 
and  many  of  these  truths  were  held  in  great  purity  and 
simplicity.  Such  is  the  power  of  truth  over  the  hu 
man  mind,  and  the  harmony  of  all  truth,  that  the 
Indian,  without  the  power  of  logic,  reached  some  of 
the  most  important  conclusions  of  philosophy,  and 
drew  down  from  heaven  some  of  the  highest  truths  of 
revelation. 

While  the  religious  system  of  the  Iroquois  taught 
the  existence  of  the  Great  Spirit  Ha-wen-ne-yu,  it 
also  recognized  the  personal  existence  of  an  Evil  Spirit, 
Ha-ne-go-ate-geh,  the  Evil-minded.  According  to  the 
legend  of  their  finite  origin,  they  were  brothers,  born 
at  the  same  birth,  and  destined  to  an  endless  existence. 
To  the  Evil  Spirit,  in  a  limited  degree,  was  ascribed 
creative  power.  As  the  Great  Spirit  created  man,  and 
all  useful  animals,  and  products  of  the  earth,  so  the 
Evil  Spirit  created  all  monsters,  poisonous  reptiles, 

1  This  is  an  original  uncompounded  word,  and  in  the  Seneca  dialect. 
It  signifies  simply  "  A  Ruler." 

147 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I R  O  %  U  O  I S 

and  noxious  plants.  In  a  word,  while  the  former 
made  everything  that  was  good  and  subservient,  the 
latter  formed  everything  that  was  bad  and  pernicious 
to  man.  One  delighted  in  virtue,  and  in  the  happiness 
of  his  creatures,  to  which  end  he  exercised  over  them 
his  unceasing  protection.  The  other  was  committed 
to  deeds  of  evil,  and  was  ever  watchful  to  scatter  dis 
cord  among  men,  and  multiply  their  calamities.  Over 
the  Evil-minded  the  Great  Spirit  exercised  no  positive 
authority,  although  possessed  of  the  power  to  over 
come  him,  if  disposed  to  its  exertion.  Each  ruled  an 
independent  kingdom,  with  powers  underived.  Man's 
free  agency  stood  between  them,  with  which,  in  effect, 
he  controlled  his  own  destiny.  A  life  of  trust  and 
confidence  in  the  Great  Spirit,  and  of  obedience  to 
his  commands,  afforded  a  refuge  and  a  shelter  to  the 
pious  Indian  against  the  machinations  of  the  Evil- 
minded. 

Inferior  spiritual  beings  were  also  recognized  in 
the  theology  of  the  Iroquois.  Though  not  as  ac 
curately  described  and  classified  as  those  of  the  an 
cient  mythology,  they  yet  exhibit  with  them  some 
singular  coincidences  ;  although  these  coincidences, 
real  or  imaginary,  show  nothing  but  the  similarity 
of  human  ideas  in  similar  conditions  of  society. 
They  were  classified  into  good  and  evil,  the  former 
being  the  assistants  and  subordinates  of  the  Great 
Spirit,  while  the  latter  were  the  emissaries  and  de 
pendents  of  the  Evil-minded.  To  some  of  them 
was  assigned  a  bodily  form,  a  "  local  habitation,  and 
a  name."  To  the  former  class  of  these  spiritual  ex 
istences,  they  were  wont  to  render  their  acknowledg- 

148 


HE'- NO,    THE    THUNDERER 

ments  at  their  annual  festivals  for  imagined  favors, 
and  to  supplicate  of  the  Great  Spirit  the  continuance 
of  their  watchful  care.  In  the  creation  of  these  sub 
ordinate  beings,  the  Iroquois  manifested  their  knowl 
edge  of  the  necessity  of  an  Omnipresent  Ruler  ;  and 
at  the  same  time  they  exhibited  their  limited  com 
prehension  of  infinite  power.  Through  these  instru 
mentalities,  they  believed  the  Great  Spirit  was  enabled, 
with  ease  and  convenience,  to  administer  the  affairs 
of  nature,  and  of  man. 

To  He -no  he  committed  the  thunderbolt;  at  once 
the  voice  of  admonition  and  the  instrument  of  ven 
geance.  He  also  intrusted  to  him  the  formation  of 
the  cloud,  and  the  gift  of  rain.  By  He-no  was  the 
earth  to  be  cooled  and  refreshed,  vegetation  sus 
tained,  the  harvest  ripened,  and  the  fruits  of  the 
earth  matured.  The  terror  of  the  Thunderer  was 
held  over  evil-doers,  but  especially  over  witches. 
With  power  to  inflict  the  most  instantaneous  and 
fearful  punishment,  he  was  regarded  as  the  avenger 
of  the  deeds  of  evil.  He  is  represented  as  having 
the  form  of  a  man,  and  as  wearing  the  costume  of 
a  warrior.  Upon  his  head  he  wore  a  magical  feather, 
which  rendered  him  invulnerable  against  the  attacks 
of  the  Evil-minded.  On  his  back  he  carried  a  bas 
ket  filled  with  fragments  of  chert  rock,  which  he 
launched  at  evil  spirits  and  witches,  whenever  he 
discovered  them,  as  he  rode  in  the  clouds.  In  the 
spring-time  when  the  seeds  were  committed  to  the 
ground,  there  was  always  an  invocation  of  He-no, 
that  he  would  water  them,  and  nourish  their  growth. 
At  the  harvest  festival  they  returned  thanks  to  He-no 

149 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

for  the  gift  of  rain.  They  also  rendered  their  thanks 
to  the  Great  Spirit  for  the  harvest,  and  supplicated 
him  to  continue  to  them  the  watchful  care  of  the 
Thunderer.  There  is  a  fanciful  legend  in  relation 
to  He-no,,  to  the  effect  that  he  once  made  his  habita 
tion  in  a  cave  under  Niagara  Falls,  behind  the  sheet, 
where  he  dwelt  amid  the  grateful  noise  and  din  of 
waters.  The  Great  Spirit  gave  to  him  three  assistants, 
who  have  continued  nameless,  to  enable  him  to  main 
tain  a  more  vigilant  supervision  over  the  important 
interests  committed  to  his  guardianship.  One  of 
these,  the  legend  declares,  was  partly  of  human,  and 
partly  of  celestial  origin.1  To  bring  He-no  nearer  to 

1  The  legend  is  as  follows  :  A  young  maiden  residing  at  Ga'-u-giua, 
a  village  above  Niagara  Falls,  at  the  mouth  of  Cayuga  creek,  had  been 
contracted  to  an  old  man  of  ugly  manners  and  disagreeable  person.  As 
the  marriage  was  hateful  to  her,  and,  by  the  customs  of  the  nation  there 
was  no  escape,  she  resolved  upon  self-destruction.  Launching  a  bark 
canoe  into  the  Niagara,  she  seated  herself  within  it,  and  composing  her 
mind  for  the  frightful  descent,  directed  it  down  the  current.  The  rapid 
waters  soon  swept  them  over  the  falls,  and  the  canoe  was  seen  to  fall  into 
the  abyss  below,  but  the  maiden  had  disappeared.  Before  she  reached  the 
waters  underneath,  she  was  caught  in  a  blanket  by  He' -no  and  his  two 
assistants,  and  carried  without  injury  to  the  home  of  the  Thunderer,  be 
hind  the  fall.  Her  beauty  attracted  one  of  the  dependents  of  He'-no,  who 
willingly  joined  them  in  marriage. 

For  several  years  before  this  event,  the  people  at  Gd'-u-g^wa  had  been 
troubled  with  an  annual  pestilence, '  and  the  source  of  the  scourge  had 
baffled  all  conjecture.  He'-no,  at  the  expiration  of  a  year,  revealed  to  her 
the  cause,  and  out  of  compassion  to  the  people,  sent  her  back  to  them, 
to  make  known  the  cause,  and  the  remedy.  He  told  her  that  a  monstrous 
serpent  dwelt  under  the  village,  and  made  his  annual  repast  upon  the 
bodies  of  the  dead  which  were  buried  by  its  side.  That  to  insure  a 
bountiful  feast,  he  went  forth  once  a  year,  and  poisoned  the  waters  of  the 
Niagara,  and  also  of  the  Cayuga  creek,  whereby  the  pestilence  was 
created.  The  people  were  directed  to  move  to  the  Buffalo  creek.  He 
also  gave  her  careful  directions  touching  the  education  of  the  child  of 

'5° 


GA'-OH,    THE    SPIRIT   OF    THE  WINDS 

their  affections,  the  Iroquois  always  addressed  him 
under  the  appellation  of  Grandfather,  and  styled 
themselves  his  grandchildren.  In  every  act  of  his, 
however,  they  recognized  the  hand  of  Ha-wen-ne'-yu. 

Another  of  the  spiritual  creations  of  the  Iroquois 
is  recognized  in  Ga'-oh,  the  Spirit  of  the  Winds. 
He  is,  also,  a  mere  instrumentality,  through  whom 

which  she  was  to  become  the  mother.  With  these  directions  she  departed 
on  her  mission. 

After  the  people  had  removed  as  directed,  the  great  serpent,  disap 
pointed  of  his  food,  put  his  head  above  the  ground  to  discover  the  rea 
son,  and  found  that  the  village  was  deserted.  Having  scented  their  trail, 
and  discovered  its  course,  he  went  forth  into  the  lake,  and  up  the  Buffalo 
creek,  in  open  search  of  his  prey.  While  in  this  narrow  channel,  He'-no 
discharged  upon  the  monster  a  terrific  thunderbolt  which  inflicted  a 
mortal  wound.  The  Senecas  yet  point  to  a  place  in  the  creek  where 
the  banks  are  semicircular  on  either  side,  as  the  spot  where  the  serpent, 
after  he  was  struck,  turning  to  escape  into  the  deep  waters  of  the  lake, 
shoved  out  the  banks  on  either  side.  Before  he  succeeded  in  reaching  the 
lake,  the  repeated  attacks  of  the  Thunderer  took  effect,  and  the  monster 
was  slain. 

The  huge  body  of  the  serpent  floated  down  the  stream,  and  lodged 
upon  the  verge  of  the  cataract,  stretching  nearly  across  the  river.  A 
part  of  the  body  arched  backwards  near  the  northern  shore  in  a  semicircle. 
The  raging  waters  thus  dammed  up  by  the  body  broke  through  the  rocks 
behind  ;  and  thus  the  whole  verge  of  the  fall  upon  which  the  body  rested 
was  precipitated  with  it  into  the  abyss  beneath.  In  this  manner,  says  the 
legend,  was  formed  the  Horse-Shoe  fall. 

Before  this  event  there  was  a  passage  behind  the  sheet  from  one  shore 
to  the  other.  This  passage-way  was  not  only  broken  up,  but  the  home 
of  He'-no  was  also  destroyed,  in  the  general  crash.  Since  then  his  habita 
tion  has  been  in  the  west. 

The  child  of  the  maiden  grew  up  to  boyhood,  and  was  found  to  possess 
the  power  of  darting  the  lightning  at  his  will.  It  had  been  the  injunction 
of  He'-no  that  he  should  be  reared  in  retirement,  and  not  be  allowed  to 
mingle  in  the  strifes  of  men.  On  a  certain  occasion  having  been  beset  by 
a  playmate  with  great  vehemence,  he  transfixed  him  with  a  thunderbolt. 
He'-no  immediately  translated  him  to  the  clouds,  and  made  him  the  third 
assistant  Thunderer. 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

the  Great  Spirit  moves  the  elements.  Having  a 
human  form,  with  the  face  of  an  old  man,  Ga-oh  is 
represented  as  sitting  in  solitary  confinement,  sur 
rounded  by  a  tangle  of  discordant  winds,  and  ever 
impatient  of  restraint.  His  residence,  Da-yo-da-do- 
go-wa,  the  "  Great  Home  of  the  Winds,"  is  stationary, 
in  a  quarter  of  the  heavens  toward  the  west.  Sur 
rounded  and  compressed  by  the  elements,  he  ever 
and  anon  struggles  to  free  himself  from  their  entan 
glement.  When  perfectly  quiescent,  the  winds  are 
at  rest.  A  slight  motion  sends  forth  the  breeze, 
which  is  wafted  gently  over  the  face  of  the  earth. 
When  he  struggles  with  restlessness  and  impatience, 
the  strong  wind  goes  forth  to  move  the  clouds,  ruffle 
the  waters,  and  shake  the  foliage  of  the  forest.  But 
when  his  restlessness  mounts  up  to  frenzy,  he  puts 
forth  his  utmost  strength  to  shake  off  the  confining 
element.  These  mighty  throes  of  Ga-oh  send  forth 
the  blasts  which  sweep  the  plain,  lay  low  the  oak 
upon  the  mountain  side,  and  dash  the  waters  against 
the  sky.  Ga-oh  is  represented,  however,  as  a  be 
neficent  being,  ever  mindful  of  the  will  of  the  Great 
Spirit,  and  solicitous  to  fulfil  his  commands.1 

Perhaps  the  most  beautiful  conception  in  the  my 
thology  of  the  Iroquois  is  that  in  relation  to  the 
Three  Sisters,  the  Spirit  of  Corn,  the  Spirit  of  the 
Bean,  and  the  Spirit  of  the  Squash.  These  plants 
were  regarded  as  the  special  gift  of  Ha-wen-ne'-yu ;  and 

1  ./Eolus  naturally  suggests  him-  "  Hie  vasto  rex  /Eolus  antro 

self   to     the     reader,     although     the     Luctantes  ventos,  tempestatesque  sonoras 
analogy  is  slight.  Imperio    premit,    ac    vinclis    et    carcere 

fraenat."  v^Eneid,  Lib.  i.  52. 


THE    THREE    SISTERS 

they  believed  that  the  care  of  each  was  intrusted,  for 
the  welfare  of  the  Indian,  to  a  separate  Spirit.  They 
are  supposed  to  have  the  forms  of  beautiful  females, 
to  be  very  fond  of  each  other,  and  to  delight  to  dwell 
together.  This  last  belief  is  illustrated  by  the  natural 
adaptation  of  the  plants  themselves  to  grow  up  to 
gether  in  the  same  field,  and  perhaps  from  the  same 
hill.  Their  apparel  was  made  of  the  leaves  of  their 
respective  plants ;  and  in  the  growing  season  they 
were  believed  to  visit  the  fields,  and  dwell  among 
them.  This  triad  is  known  under  the  name  of  De-o- 
ha'-ko,  which  signifies  Our  Life,  or  Our  Supporters. 
They  are  never  mentioned  separately,  except  by  de 
scription,  as  they  have  no  individual  names.  There 
is  a  legend  in  relation  to  corn,  that  it  was  originally  of 
easy  cultivation,  yielded  abundantly,  and  had  a  grain 
exceedingly  rich  with  oil.  The  Evil-minded,  being 
envious  of  this  great  gift  of  Ha-wen-ne'-yu  to  man, 
went  forth  into  the  fields,  and  spread  over  it  a  uni 
versal  blight.  Since  then  it  has  been  harder  to  culti 
vate,  yields  less  abundantly,  and  has  lost  its  original 
richness.  To  this  day,  when  the  rustling  wind  waves 
the  corn  leaves  with  a  moaning  sound,  the  pious  Indian 
fancies  that  he  hears  the  Spirit  of  Corn,  in  her  com 
passion  for  the  red  man,  still  bemoaning,  with  unavail 
ing  regrets,  her  blighted  fruitfulness.(19) 

Among  the  inhabitants  of  the  spiritual  world,  with 
which  the  Iroquois  surrounded  themselves,  may  be 
enumerated  the  Spirits  of  medicine,  of  fire,  and  of 
water,  the  Spirit  of  each  of  the  different  species  of 
trees,  of  each  of  the  species  of  shrubs  bearing  fruit, 
and  of  the  different  herbs  and  plants.  Thus  there 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

was  the  Spirit  of  the  oak,  of  the  hemlock,  and  of 
the  maple,  of  the  whortleberry  and  of  the  raspberry, 
and  also  of  the  spearmint,  and  of  tobacco.  Most  of 
the  objects  in  nature  were  thus  placed  under  the 
watchful  care  of  some  protecting  Spirit.  Some  of 
them  were  made  tangible  to  the  senses,  by  giving  to 
them  a  bodily  form  and  specific  duties  ;  as  the  Spirit 
of  springs,  and  of  each  of  the  several  fruit  trees.  But 
the  most  of  them  were  feebly  imagined  existences.  In 
their  worship,  the  Iroquois  were  accustomed  to  return 
their  thanks  to  these  subordinates  of  Ha-wen-ne'-yu, 
under  the  general  name  of  H o-no-c he-no -keh.  This 
term  signifies  "  the  Invisible  Aids,"  and  included  the 
whole  spiritual  world,  from  He-no,  the  Thunderer, 
down  to  the  Spirit  of  the  Strawberry.  But  few  of 
them  had  specific  names,  or  were  mentioned  in  their 
worship,  except  conjointly.  The  Iroquois  appear  to 
have  had  but  a  faint  conception  of  the  omnipresence 
of  the  Great  Spirit,  as  elsewhere  observed  ;  or  of  any 
individual  power  sufficiently  potent  to  administer,  un 
assisted,  the  stupendous  works  of  creation,  and  the 
complicated  affairs  of  man.  In  part  from  this  cause, 
undoubtedly,  they  believed  that  the  Great  Spirit  had 
surrounded  himself  with  subordinate  spiritual  beings 
of  his  own  creation,  to  whom  he  intrusted  the  imme 
diate  supervision  of  the  various  works  of  nature.  He 
thus  rendered  himself,  in  a  limited  sense,  omnipresent, 
and  ruled  and  regulated,  with  ease  and  convenience, 
the  works  of  creation.  These  Spirits  were  never 
objects  of  worship.  The  Iroquois  regarded  them 
merely  as  the  unseen  assistants  of  Ha-wen-ne-yu,  and 
the  executors  of  his  will. 

'54 


EVIL    SPIRITS 

Evil  spirits  were  believed  to  be  the  creations  of 
Ha-ne-go-ate-geh.  Pestilence  and  disease  were  sup 
posed  to  be  the  work  of  evil  spirits.  Witches  and 
enchanters  were  believed  to  be  possessed  with  them. 
There  were  also  the  Spirits  of  poisonous  plants  and 
roots.  All  the  agencies  of  evil  were  brought  into 
existence  by,  and  held  under  the  dominion  of  the 
Evil-minded.  To  counteract  their  machinations,  the 
efforts  of  the  Great  Spirit  and  his  spiritual  host  were 
incessantly  put  forth.  At  their  religious  festivals,  the 
Iroquois  invoked  Ha-wen-ne-yu  to  shield  them  against 
their  secret  designs.  "  Great  Spirit,  master  of  all 
things,  visible  and  invisible ;  Great  Spirit,  master  of 
other  spirits,  whether  good  or  evil ;  command  the  good 
spirits  to  favor  thy  children  ;  command  the  evil  spirits 
to  keep  at  a  distance  from  them." 

The  Iroquois  believed  that  tobacco  was  given  to 
them  as  the  means  of  communication  with  the  spiritual 
world.  By  burning  tobacco  they  could  send  up  their 
petitions  with  its  ascending  incense,  to  the  Great  Spirit, 
and  render  their  acknowledgments  acceptably  for  his 
blessings.  Without  this  instrumentality,  the  ear  of 
Ha-wen-ne-yu  could  not  be  gained.  In  like  manner 
they  returned  their  thanks  at  each  recurring  festival  to 
the  Invisible  Aids,  for  their  friendly  offices,  and  pro 
tecting  care.  It  was  also  their  custom  to  return  thanks 
to  the  trees,  shrubs  and  plants,  to  the  springs,  rivers 
and  streams,  to  the  fire  and  wind,  and  to  the  sun, 
moon  and  stars  ;  in  a  word,  to  every  object  in  nature, 
which  ministered  to  their  wants,  and  thus  awakened 
a  feeling  of  gratitude.  But  this  was  done  without 

1  La  Hontan. 

'55 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

the    intervention    of  the    incense  of   tobacco.     They 
addressed  the  object  itself. 

A  belief  in  witches  is  to  this  day,  and  always  has 
been,  one  of  the  most  deeply-seated  notions  in  the 
minds  of  the  Iroquois.  The  popular  belief  on  this 
subject  rose  to  the  most  extravagant  degree  of  the 
marvellous  and  the  supernatural.  Any  person, 
whether  old  or  young,  male  or  female,  might  be 
come  possessed  of  an  evil  spirit,  and  be  transformed 
into  a  witch.  A  person  thus  possessed  could  assume, 
at  pleasure,  the  form  of  any  animal,  bird  or  reptile, 
and  having  executed  his  nefarious  purpose,  could 
resume  his  original  form,  or,  if  necessary  to  escape 
pursuit,  could  transmute  himself  into  an  inanimate 
object.  They  were  endued  with  the  power  of  doing 
evil,  and  were  wholly  bent  upon  deeds  of  wickedness. 
When  one  became  a  witch,  he  ceased  to  be  himself. 
According  to  the  current  belief,  he  was  not  only  will 
ing  to  take  the  life  of  his  nearest  friend,  but  such  an 
one  was  the  preferred  object  of  his  vengeance.  The 
means  of  death  employed  was  an  unseen  poison. 
Such  was  the  universal  terror  of  witches,  that  their 
lives  were  forfeited  by  the  laws  of  the  Iroquois.  Any 
one  who  discovered  the  act,  might  not  only  destroy 
the  witch,  but  could  take  to  himself  the  dangerous 
power  of  deciding  who  it  was.  To  this  day,  it  is  next 
to  impossible,  by  any  process  of  reasoning,  to  divest 
the  mind  of  a  Seneca  of  his  deep-seated  belief  in 
witches.1 

1  But  a  year  since  a  woman  was  shot  on  the  Allegany  (Seneca)  reserva 
tion,  on  the  pretence  of  witchcraft.  Such  instances  have  been  frequent 
among  the  Senecas  w.ithin  the  last  fifty  years.  Not  the  least  singular 

156 


FALSE  FACES 


There  is  a  current  belief  among  the  Iroquois,  that 
these  demons  are  banded  together  in  a  secret  and 
systematic  organization,  which  has  subsisted  for  ages  ; 
that  they  have  periodical  meetings,  an  initiation  cere 
mony,  and  a  novitiate  fee.  These  meetings  were  held 
at  night,  and  the  fee  of  the  neophyte  was  the  life  of 
his  nearest  and  dearest  friend,  to  be  taken  with  poison, 
on  the  eve  of  his  admission. 

The  tendency  of  the  Iro 
quois  to  superstitious  beliefs 
is  especially  exemplified  in 
their  notion  of  the  existence 
of  a  race  of  supernatural 
beings  whom  they  call  False- 
faces.  This  belief  has  pre 
vailed  among  them  from  the 
most  remote  period,  and  still 
continues  its  hold  upon  the 
Indian  mind.  The  Falsefaces 
are  believed  to  be  evil  spirits 
or  demons  without  bodies, 
arms  or  limbs,  simply  faces, 
and  those  of  the  most  hideous 
description.  It  is  pretended 
that  when  seen  they  are  usu 
ally  in  the  most  retired  places, 
darting  from  point  to  point, 
and  perhaps  from  tree  to  tree, 

by  some  mysterious  power  ;  and  possessed  of  a  look  so 
frightful  and  demoniacal  as  to  paralyze  all  who  behold 

feature  of  the  case  is  that  they  sometimes  confess  the  act.      There  may  be 
some  foundation  for  this  strange  delusion  in  the  phenomena  of  nature. 

157 


pa-go'-sa,  or  False  Face, 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

them.  They  are  supposed  also  to  have  power  to  send 
plagues  and  pestilence  among  men,  as  well  as  to  de 
vour  their  bodies  when  found,  for  which  reasons  they 
were  held  in  the  highest  terror.  To  this  day  there  are 
large  numbers  of  the  Iroquois  who  believe  implicitly 
in  the  personal  existence  of  these  demons. 

Upon  this  belief  was  founded  a  regular  secret  organ 
ization  called  the  Falseface  band,  members  of  which 
can  now  be  found  in  every  Iroquois  village  both  in 
this  State  and  Canada,  where  the  old  modes  of  life  are 
still  preserved.  This  society  has  a  species  of  initia 
tion,  and  regular  forms,  ceremonies  and  dances.  In 
acquiring  or  relinquishing  a  membership  their  super 
stitious  notions  were  still  further  illustrated,  for  it  de 
pended  entirely  upon  the  omen  of  a  dream.  If  any 
one  dreamed  he  was  a  Falseface,  it  was  only  necessary 
to  signify  his  dream  to  the  proper  person,  and  give  a 
feast,  to  be  at  once  initiated  ;  and  so  any  one  dreaming 
that  he  had  ceased  to  be  a  Falseface,  had  but  to  make 
known  his  dream  and  give  a  similar  entertainment  to 
effect  his  exodus.  In  no  other  way  could  a  member 
ship  be  acquired  or  surrendered.  Upon  all  occasions 
on  which  the  members  appeared  in  character  they  wore 
false  faces  of  the  kind  represented  in  the  figure,  the 
masks  being  diversified  in  color,  style  and  configura 
tion,  but  all  agreeing  in  their  equally  hideous  appear 
ance.  The  members  were  all  males  save  one,  who  was 
a  female,  and  the  Mistress  of  the  Band.  She  was  called 
Gd-go-sa  Ho-nun-nas-tase-ta^  or  the  keeper  of  the  False- 
faces  ;  and  not  only  had  charge  of  the  regalia  of  the  band, 
but  was  the  only  organ  of  communication  with  the 
members,  for  their  names  continued  unknown. 


FALSEFACES 

The  prime  motive  in  the  establishment  of  this  or 
ganization  was  to  propitiate  those  demons  called  False- 
faces,  and  among  other  good  results  to  arrest  pestilence 
and  disease.  In  course  of  time  the  band  itself  was  be 
lieved  to  have  a  species  of  control  over  diseases,  and 
over  the  healing  art ;  and  they  were  often  invoked  for 
the  cure  of  simple  diseases,  and  to  drive  away,  or  ex 
orcise  the  plague,  if  it  had  actually  broken  out  in  their 
midst.  As  recently  as  the  summer  of  1849,  when  the 
cholera  prevailed  through  the  State,  the  Falsefaces,  in 
appropriate  costume,  went  from  house  to  house  at 
Tonawanda,  through  the  old  school  portion  of  the 
village,  and  performed  the  usual  ceremonies  prescribed 
for  the  expulsion  of  the  pestilence. 

When  any  one  was  sick  with  a  complaint  within  the 
range  of  their  healing  powers,  and  dreamed  that  he  saw 
a  Falseface,  this  was  interpreted  to  signify  that  through 
their  instrumentality  he  was  to  be  cured.  Having  in 
formed  the  mistress  of  the  band,  and  prepared  the  cus 
tomary  feast,  the  Falsefaces  at  once  appeared,  preceded 
by  their  female  leader,  and  marching  in  Indian  file. 
Each  one  wore  a  mask  or  false  face,  a  tattered  blanket 
over  his  shoulders,  and  carried  a  turtle  shell  rattle  in 
his  hand.  On  entering  the  house  of  the  invalid  they 
first  stirred  the  ashes  upon  the  hearth,  and  then 
sprinkled  the  patient  over  with  hot  ashes  until  his  head 
and  hair  were  covered  ;'  after  which  they  performed 
some  manipulations  over  him  in  turn,  and  finally  led 
him  around  with  them  in  the  falseface  dance  ( Ga-go-sa), 
with  which  their  ceremonies  concluded.  When  these 
performances  were  over,  the  entertainment  prepared 
for  the  occasion  was  distributed  to  the  band,  and  by 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I R  O  <^U  O  I  S 

them  carried  away  for  their  private  feasting,  as  they 
never  unmasked  themselves  before  the  people.  Among 
the  simple  complaints  which  the  Falsefaces  could  cure 
infallibly,  were  nose  bleed,  toothache,  swellings,  and 
inflammation  of  the  eyes.  The  false  face  shown  in 
the  figure  was  purchased  of  an  Onondaga  on  Grand 
river. 

The  proneness  of  the  Indian  mind  to  supersti 
tious  beliefs  is  chiefly  to  be  ascribed  to  their  legen 
dary  literature.(94)  The  fables  which  have  been 
handed  down  from  generation  to  generation,  to  be 
rehearsed  to  the  young  from  year  to  year,  would  fill 
volumes.  These  fabulous  tales,  for  exuberance  of 
fancy,  and  extravagance  of  invention,  not  only  sur 
pass  the  fireside  stories  of  all  other  people,  but  to 
their  diversity  and  number  there  is  apparently  no 
limit.  There  were  fables  of  a  race  of  pigmies  who 
dwelt  within  the  earth,(94)  but  who  were  endued 
with  such  herculean  strength  as  to  tear  up  by  its 
roots  the  forest  oak,  and  shoot  it  from  their  bows  ; 
fables  of  a  buffalo  of  such  huge  dimensions  as  to 
thresh  down  the  forest  in  his  march  ;(9^  fables  of 
ferocious  flying-heads,  winging  themselves  through 
the  air;  of  serpents  paralyzing  by  a  look  ;  of  a  mon 
ster  mosquito,  who  thrust  his  b'ill  through  the  bodies 
of  his  victims,  and  drew  their  blood  in  the  twinkling 
of  an  eye.  There  were  fables  of  a  race  of  stone  giants 
who  dwelt  in  the  north  ;  of  a  monster  bear,  more 
terrific  than  the  buffalo;  of  a  monster  lizard,  more 
destructive  than  the  serpent.  There  were  tales  of 
witches,  and  supernatural  visitations,  together  with 
marvellous  stories  of  personal  adventure.  Super- 

160 


LEGENDARY    LITERATURE 

added  to  the  fables  of  this  description,  were  legends 
upon  a  thousand  subjects,  in  which  fact  was  embel 
lished  with  fiction.  These  legends  entered  into  the 
affairs  of  private  life,  and  of  individuals,  and  were 
explanatory  of  a  multitude  of  popular  beliefs.  Min 
gled  up  with  this  mass  of  fable,  were  their  historical 
traditions.  This  branch  of  their  unwritten  literature 
is  both  valuable  and  interesting.  These  traditions  are 
remarkably  tenacious  of  the  truth,  and  between  them 
all  there  is  a  striking  harmony  of  facts.  Any  one 
who  takes  occasion  to  compare  parts  of  these  tradi 
tions  with  concurrent  history,  will  be  surprised  at 
their  accuracy,  whether  the  version  be  from  the  Oneida, 
the  Onondaga,  the  Seneca,  or  the  Mohawk.  The 
embellishments  gained  by  their  transmission  from  hand 
to  hand  are  usually  separable  from  the  substance,  and 
the  latter  is  entitled  to  credence.  With  these  fables, 
legends  and  traditions  the  Indian  youth  was  familiar 
ized  from  infancy.  His  mind  became  stored  and 
crowded  with  bewildering  fictions.  Without  books, 
and  without  employment,  in  the  intervals  between 
the  hunt,  the  council,  and  the  warlike  expedition,  the 
mind  naturally  fell  back  upon  this  unwritten  literature 
of  the  wilderness.  The  rehearsal  of  these  marvellous 
tales  furnished  the  chief  entertainment  at  the  fireside 
in  the  Indian  village,  and  also  at  the  lodge  far  hid 
in  the  depths  of  the  forest.  The  credulity  of  youth 
would  know  no  limits,  when  the  narrator  himself 
credited  the  tale  he  was  relating.  Growing  into  man 
hood  under  such  intellectual  influences,  the  young 
warrior  would  not  readily  discriminate  between  that 
which  was  too  marvellous  for  belief  and  that  which 


VOL.    I.  —  II 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

was  consistent  with  truth,  but  would  adopt  the  whole 
as  equally  veritable.  That  early  and  constant  famil 
iarity  with  such  a  mass  of  uncorrected  fancies  should 
beget  a  permanent  tendency  of  mind  to  fall  into  super 
stitious  beliefs,  is  far  less  surprising  than  would  be 
an  exemption  from  all  such  delusions. 

From  a  vague  and  indefinable  dread,  these  fables 
were  never  related  in  the  summer  season,(94)  when 
the  imagination  was  peculiarly  susceptible.  As  soon 
as  the  buds  had  opened  on  the  trees,  these  stories 
were  hushed,  and  their  historical  traditions  substituted. 
But  when  the  leaves  began  to  fall,  their  rehearsal 
again  furnished  the  chief  amusement  of  the  hours  of 
leisure  in  Indian  society. 

The  immortality  of  the  soul  was  another  of  the 
fixed  beliefs  of  the  Iroquois.  This  notion  has  pre 
vailed  generally  among  all  the  red  races,  under  different 
forms,  and  with  different  degrees  of  distinctness.  "  The 
happy  home  beyond  the  setting  sun,"  had  cheered 
the  heart,  and  lighted  the  expiring  eye  of  the  Indian, 
before  the  ships  of  Columbus  had  borne  the  cross 
to  this  western  world.  This  sublime  conclusion  is 
another  of  those  truths,  written,  as  it  were,  by  the 
Deity,  in  the  mind  of  man,  and  one  easily  to  be 
deciphered  from  the  page  of  nature  by  unperverted 
reason.  This  truth  has  always  been  taught  among 
the  Iroquois,  as  a  fundamental  article  of  faith. 

In  connection  with  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 
must  be  placed  their  belief  in  future  punishments. 
This  is  maintained  to  have  been  a  part  of  their  an 
cient  faith,  but  with  how  much  truth  it  is  difficult  to 
determine.  It  is  now  taught  by  the  unchristian- 

162 


IMMORTALITY    OF     THE    SOUL 

ized  portion  of  the  Iroquois,  as  an  essential  part  of 
their  belief. 

The  worship  of  the  Iroquois,  it  is  believed,  has 
undergone  no  important  change  for  centuries.  It  is 
the  same,  in  all  respects,  at  this  day,  that  it  was  at 
the  commencement  of  their  intercourse  with  the  whites. 
But  their  faith  appears  to  have  suffered  some  en 
largement.  They  seem  to  have  silently  adopted  such 
thoughts  of  the  missionaries  as  could  be  interwoven 
harmoniously  with  their  own  creed,  while  at  the  same 
time  they  firmly  and  constantly  excluded  all  those 
beliefs  which  were  inconsistent  with  their  own  relig 
ious  system,  as  a  whole.  The  principal  illustration 
of  this  position  is  to  be  found  in  their  present  views 
of  the  nature  and  office  of  punishment.  They  believe 
that  the  wicked,  after  death,  pass  into  the  dark  realm 
of  Ha-ne-go-ate-geh)  there  to  undergo  a  process  of 
punishment  for  their  evil  deeds.  Those  who  are  not 
consumed  by  the  degree  of  punishment  inflicted,  are, 
after  this  purification,  translated  to  the  abode  of  the 
Great  Spirit,  and  to  eternal  felicity.  Evil  deeds  in 
this  life  are  neutralized  by  meritorious  acts.  After 
the  balance  is  struck  between  them,  if  the  good  pre 
dominate,  the  spirit  passes  direct  to  Ha-wen-ne'-yu-geh  ; 
but  if  the  bad  overbalance,  it  goes  at  once  to  Ha-nis- 
ha-o-no'-geh,  the  dwelling-place  of  the  Evil-minded, 
where  punishments  are  meted  out  to  it  in  proportion  to 
the  magnitude  of  its  offences.  Certain  crimes,  like 
those  of  witchcraft  and  murder,  were  punished  eter 
nally,  but  others  temporarily.  The  resemblance  be 
tween  this  system  of  punishment  and  the  purgatory 
of  the  Catholic  church  leads  to  the  inference,  that  they 

163 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

derived  from  the  Jesuits  some  of  their  ideas  of  the 
nature  and  office  of  punishment,  and  of  its  limitations. 
While,  therefore,  the  Iroquois  may  have  obtained 
more  systematic  and  enlarged  views  upon  these  sub 
jects  from  without,  at  the  same  time,  as  they  affirm, 
they  may  always  have  believed  that  the  wicked  were 
excluded  from  heaven,  and  sent  to  a  place  of  infe 
licity.  Their  traditions  tend  to  establish  a  belief  in 
future  punishments,  as  a  tenet  of  their  ancient  faith. 
There  is  another  practice,  now  universal  among 
the  Iroquois,  which  appears  still  more  decisively  to 
be  of  Jesuit  origin.  It  is  the  confession  of  sins. 
Before  each  of  their  periodical  religious  festivals,  there 
is  made  a  general  and  public  confession.  Several 
days  before  the  time  designated  for  the  festival,  the 
people  assemble  by  appointment,  and  each  one  in 
turn,  who  has  a  confession  to  make,  rising,  and  taking 
a  string  of  white  wampum  in  his  hand,  acknowl 
edges  his  faults  and  transgressions,  and  publicly  pro 
fesses  a  purpose  of  amendment.  The  white  wampum 
is  the  emblem  of  purity  and  sincerity.  With  it  he 
confirms  and  records  his  words.  The  absolution  or 
forgiveness  of  sins  formed  no  part  of  the  motive  or  ob 
ject  in  the  confession.  It  had  reference  to  the  future  con 
duct  exclusively.  One  who  was  willing  to  confess  a  fault 
from  a  sense  of  religious  duty,  would,  by  the  act, 
strengthen  his  mind  against  future  temptation.  This 
custom  has  prevailed  so  long  among  them,  that  they 
have  lost  its  origin.  It  contains  no  such  analogy 
to  the  practices  of  any  Christian  community  as  to 
compel  us  to  ascribe  it  to  external  influences,  but  yet 
it  has  about  it  so  much  of  the  fragrance  of  Christ- 

164 


MORAL    SENTIMENTS 

ianity,  that  it  awakens  in  the  mind  a  doubt  of  its 
Indian  origin.  It  is  by  no  means  certain,  however, 
but  that  it  is  one  of  their  own  primitive  religious 
customs,  under  a  modified  form. 

Reverence  for  the  aged  was  also  one  of  the  precepts 
of  the  ancient  faith.  Among  the  roving  tribes  of  the 
wilderness,  the  old  and  helpless  were  frequently  aban 
doned,  and  in  some  cases,  hurried  out  of  existence,  as 
an  act  of  greater  kindness  than  desertion.  But  the 
Iroquois,  at  the  epoch  of  the  formation  of  the  League, 
resided  in  permanent  villages,  which  afforded  a  refuge 
for  the  aged.  One  of  the  prominent  aims  of  their  first 
lawgiver,  Da-ga-no-we'-da,  was  to  bind  the  people  to 
gether  by  the  family  ties  of  relationship,  and  thus 
create  among  them  an  universal  spirit  of  hospitality, 
and  a  lasting  desire  of  social  intercourse.  After  the 
establishment  of  the  Confederacy,  certainly,  these  prac 
tices  never  prevailed  among  the  Iroquois.(121)  On 
the  contrary,  their  religious  teachers  inculcated  the 
duty  of  protecting  their  aged  parents,  as  divinely  en 
joined.  "  It  is  the  will  of  the  Great  Spirit  that  you 
reverence  the  aged,  even  though  they  be  as  helpless 
as  infants." 

The  obedience  of  children,  their  instruction  in  virtu 
ous  principles,  kindness  to  the  orphan,  hospitality  to 
all,  and  a  common  brotherhood,  were  among  the  doc 
trines  held  up  for  acceptance  by  their  religious  instruc 
tors.  These  precepts  were  taught  as  the  will  of  the 
Great  Spirit,  and  obedience  to  their  requirements  as 
acceptable  in  his  sight.  "If  you  tie  up  the  clothes  of 
an  orphan  child,  the  Great  Spirit  will  notice  it,  and 

1  Sose-ha'-wd  (Johnson). 
165 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

reward  you  for  it."  "  To  adopt  orphans,  and  bring 
them  up  in  virtuous  ways,  is  pleasing  to  the  Great 
Spirit."  "If  a  stranger  wander  about  your  abode, 
welcome  him  to  your  home,  be  hospitable  towards 
him,  speak  to  him  with  kind  words,  and  forget  not  al 
ways  to  mention  the  Great  Spirit."  l 

Respect  for  the  dead  was  another  element  of  their 
faith.  At  various  periods  of  their  history,  it  has  mani 
fested  itself  under  different  and  very  singular  forms. 
The  burial  customs  of  every  people  interest  the  mind. 
Death  is  the  great  catastrophe  of  humanity.  And 
whether  man  has  reached  the  highest  intellectual  eleva 
tion,  or  still  sits  beside  the  forest  streamlet,  in  the  in 
fancy  of  his  mental  growth,  this  event  seizes  upon  his 
mind  with  solemn  and  absorbing  earnestness.  With 
the  Iroquois  different  customs  have  prevailed,  in  rela 
tion  to  the  mode  of  burial.  At  one  period  they  buried 
in  a  sitting  posture,  with  the  face  to  the  east.  Skele 
tons  are  still  found  in  this  position,  in  various  parts  of 
the  State,  with  a  gun  barrel  resting  against  the  shoulder; 
thus  fixing  the  period  of  their  sepulture  subsequent  to 
the  first  intercourse  of  this  people  with  the  whites.  It 
is  supposed  that  this  custom  was  abandoned  at  the 
persuasion  of  the  missionaries,  although  there  is  a  tra 
dition  ascribing  it  to  a  different  cause.  Another  and 
more  extraordinary  mode  of  burial  anciently  prevailed 
among  them.  The  body  of  the  deceased  was  exposed 
upon  a  bark  scaffolding,  erected  upon  poles,  or  secured 
upon  the  limbs  of  trees,  where  it  was  left  to  waste  to  a 
skeleton.  After  this  had  been  effected  by  the  process 
of  decomposition  in  the  open  air,  the  bones  were  re- 

1  Johnson. 
1 66 


BURIAL    CUSTOMS 

moved,  either  to  the  former  house  of  the  deceased,  or 
to  a  small  bark  house  by  its  side,  prepared  for  their 
reception.  In  this  manner  the  skeletons  of  the  whole 
family  were  preserved  from  generation  to  generation, 
by  the  filial  or  parental  affection  of  the  living.  After 
the  lapse  of  a  number  of  years,  or  in  a  season  of  public 
insecurity,  or  on  the  eve  of  abandoning  a  settlement,(89) 
it  was  customary  to  collect  these  skeletons  from 
the  whole  community  around,  and  consign  them  to  a 
common  resting-place.  To  this  custom,  which  was 
not  confined  to  the  Iroquois,  is  doubtless  to  be  as 
cribed  the  barrows  and  bone  mounds  which  have  been 
found  in  such  numbers  in  various  parts  of  the  country. 
On  opening  these  mounds,  the  skeletons  are  usually 
found  arranged  in  horizontal  layers,  a  conical  pyramid, 
those  in  each  layer  radiating  from  a  common  centre. 
In  other  cases  they  are  found  placed  promiscuously.1 

The  religious  system  of  the  Iroquois  taught  that  it 
was  a  journey  from  earth  to  heaven  of  many  days' 
duration.  Originally,  it  was  supposed  to  be  a  year, 
and  the  period  of  mourning  for  the  departed  was  fixed 
at  that  term.  At  its  expiration,  it  was  customary  for 
the  relatives  of  the  deceased  to  hold  a  feast;  the  soul 
of  the  departed  having  reached  heaven,  and  a  state  of 
felicity,  there  was  no  longer  any  cause  for  mourning. 
The  spirit  of  grief  was  exchanged  for  that  of  rejoicing. 
In  modern  times  the  mourning  period  has  been  re 
duced  to  ten  days,  and  the  journey  of  the  spirit  is  now 

1  There  are  Senecas  now  residing  at  Tonawanda  and  Cattaraugus,  who 
remember  having  seen,  about  sixty  years  ago,  at  the  latter  place,  these 
bark  scaffoldings,  on  which  bodies  were  then  exposed.  The  custom  still 
prevails  among  the  Sioux  upon  the  upper  Mississippi,  and  among  some  of 
the  tribes  in  the  far  west. 

167 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

believed  to  be  performed  in  three.  The  spirit  of  the 
deceased  was  supposed  to  hover  around  the  body  for  a 
season,  before  it  took  its  final  departure  ;  and  not  un 
til  after  the  expiration  of  a  year  according  to  the  ancient 
belief,  and  ten  days  according  to  the  present,  did  it 
become  permanently  at  rest  in  heaven.  A  beautiful 
custom  prevailed  in  ancient  times,  of  capturing  a  bird, 
and  freeing  it  over  the  grave  on  the  evening  of  the 
burial,  to  bear  away  the  spirit  to  its  heavenly  rest. 
Their  notions  of  the  state  of  the  soul  when  disem 
bodied,  are  vague  and  diversified  ;  but  they  all  agree 
that,  during  the  journey,  it  required  the  same  nourish 
ment  as  while  it  dwelt  in  the  body.  They,  therefore, 
deposited  beside  the  deceased  his  bow  and  arrows, 
tobacco  and  pipe,  and  necessary  food  for  the  journey. 
They  also  painted  the  face  and  dressed  the  body  in  its 
best  apparel.  A  fire  was  built  upon  the  grave  at  night, 
to  enable  the  spirit  to  prepare  its  food.  With  these 
tokens  of  affliction,  and  these  superstitious  concern 
ments  for  the  welfare  of  the  deceased,  the  children  of 
the  forest  performed  the  burial  rites  of  their  departed 
kindred.1  The  wail  and  the  lamentation  evidenced  the 
passionate  character  of  their  grief.2  After  the  mourn- 

1  To  this  universal  custom  of  the  red  race,  of  depositing  the  valuable 
articles  of  the  deceased  by  his  side,  as  well  as  utensils  and  vessels  to  pre 
pare  and  contain  his  food,  we  are  indebted  for  all  the  relics  we  possess  of 
the  earlier  epochs  of  our  aboriginal   history.  (10~)      Articles  are  still  dis 
entombed  from  the   soil  from   year  to  year,  some  of  which  reach  back  to 
the  era  of  the  Mound  Builders. 

2  In  ancient  times,  the  practice  prevailed  of  addressing  the  dead  before 
burial,  under  the  belief  that  they  could  hear,  although  unable  to  answer. 
The  near  relatives  and  friends,  or  such  as  were  disposed,  approached  the 
body  in  turn  ;  and  after  the  wail  had  ceased,  they  addressed  it  in  a  pa 
thetic  or  laudatory  speech.      The  practice  has  not  even  yet  fallen  entirely 

1 68 


BURIAL    CUSTOMS 

ing  period  had  expired,  the  name  of  the  deceased  was 
never  mentioned,  from  a  sense  of  delicacy  to  the  tender 
feelings  of  his  friends. 

Unless  the  rites  of  burial  were  performed,  it  was 
believed  that  the  spirits  of  the  dead  wandered  for  a 
time  upon  the  earth,  in  a  state  of  great  unhappiness. 
Hence  their  extreme  solicitude  to  procure  the  bodies 
of  their  slain  in  battle. 

Heaven  was  the  abode  of  the  Great  Spirit,  the 
final  home  of  the  faithful.  They  believed  there  was 
a  road  down  from  heaven  to  every  man's  door.  On 
this  invisible  way,  the  soul  ascended  in  its  heavenly 
flight  until  it  reached  its  celestial  habitation.  As 

into  disuse.  The  following  address  of  an  Iroquois  mother  over  the  body 
of  her  son  was  made  on  a  recent  occasion.  Approaching  his  inanimate 
remains  to  look  upon  him  for  the  last  time,  her  grief  for  some  moments 
was  uncontrollable.  Presently,  her  wailing  ceased,  and  she  thus  addressed 
him  :  tf  My  son,  listen  once  more  to  the  words  of  thy  mother.  Thou 
wert  brought  into  life  with  her  pains.  Thou  wert  nourished  with  her 
life.  She  has  attempted  to  be  faithful  in  raising  thee  up.  When  thou 
wert  young,  she  loved  thee  as  her  life.  Thy  presence  has  been  a  source 
of  great  joy  to  her.  Upon  thee  she  depended  for  support  and  comfort  in 
her  declining  days.  She  had  ever  expected  to  gain  the  end  of  the  path  of 
lite  before  thee.  But  thou  hast  outstripped  her,  and  gone  before  her. 
Our  great  and  wise  Creator  has  ordered  it  thus.  By  his  will  I  am  left  to 
taste  more  of  the  miseries  of  this  world.  Thy  friends  and  relatives  have 
gathered  about  thy  body,  to  look  upon  thee  for  the  last  time.  They 
mourn,  as  with  one  mind,  thy  departure  from  among  us.  We,  too,  have 
but  a  few  days  more,  and  our  journey  shall  be  ended.  We  part  now,  and 
you  are  conveyed  from  our  sight.  But  we  shall  soon  meet  again,  and 
shall  again  look  upon  each  other.  Then  we  shall  part  no  more.  Our 
Maker  has  called  you  to  his  home.  Thither  will  we  follow.  Na-ho' '." 
After  this  was  over,  the  wail  continued  for  a  few  moments,  when  the  body 
was  borne  away.  The  above  was  furnished  to  the  author  by  Hd-sa-no- 
an'-da  (Ely  S.  Parker),  who  heard  it  delivered.  See  also  a  specimen  of 
an  address  to  the  dead  in  La  Hontan's  Voy.  North  Am.  Lond.  ed.  1735, 
vol.  ii.  p.  54. 

• 

169 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROgJJOIS 

before  observed,  the  spirit  was  supposed  to  linger  for 
a  time  about  the  body,  and  perhaps  to  revisit  it.  In 
consequence  of  this  belief,  a  superstitious  custom  pre 
vailed  of  leaving  a  slight  opening  in  the  grave,  through 
which  it  might  reenter  its  former  tenement.  To  this 
day,  among  a  portion  of  the  Iroquois,  after  the  body 
has  been  deposited  in  a  coffin,  holes  are  bored  through 
it  for  the  same  purpose.  After  taking  its  final  depar 
ture,  the  soul  was  supposed  to  ascend  higher  and 
higher  on  its  heavenly  way,  gradually  moving  to 
the  westward,  until  it  came  out  upon  the  plains  of 
heaven. 

The  inhabitants  of  this  sinless  dwelling-place  of 
Ha-wen-ne'-yu  were  believed  to  possess  a  body,  and 
the  senses,  appetites  and  affections  of  the  earthly  life. 
They  carried  their  knowledge  with  them,  and  the 
memory  of  former  friends.  Sex  was  in  effect  abol 
ished,  but  families  were  reunited,  and  dwelt  together 
in  perpetual  harmony.  All  the  powers  of  the  Indian 
imagination  were  taxed  to  picture  the  glowing  beauties 
of  their  celestial  home.  It  was  fashioned  to  please 
the  natural  senses.  A  vast  plain  of  illimitable  exten 
sion,  it  was  spread  out  with  every  variety  of  natural 
scenery  which  could  please  the  eye,  or  gratify  the 
fancy.  Forests  clothed  with  ever-living  foliage,  flow 
ers  of  every  hue  in  eternal  bloom,  fruits  of  every 
variety  in  perpetual  ripeness,  in  a  word,  the  meridian 
charms  of  nature  met  the  eye  in  every  direction.  To 
form  a  paradise  of  unrivalled  beauty,  the  Great  Spirit 
had  gathered  every  object  in  the  natural  world  which 
could  delight  the  senses,  and  having  spread  them  out 
in  vast  but  harmonious  array,  and  restored  their  bap- 

170 


WASHINGTON 

tismal  vestments,  he  diffused  over  these  congregated 
beauties  of  nature  the  bloom  of  immortality.  In  this 
happy  abode,  they  were  destined  to  enjoy  unending 
felicity.  No  evil  could  enter  this  peaceful  home  of 
innocence  and  purity.  No  violence  could  disturb, 
no  passions  ruffle  the  tranquillity  of  this  fortunate 
realm.  In  amusement  or  repose  they  spent  their 
lives.  The  festivities  in  which  they  had  delighted 
while  on  the  earth  were  re-celebrated  in  the  presence 
of  the  great  Author  of  their  being.  They  enjoyed 
all  the  happiness  of  the  earthly  life,  unencumbered 
by  its  ills. 

With  the  Iroquois,  heaven  was  not  regarded  as  a 
"  hunting  ground,"  as  it  appears  to  have  been  by 
some  Indian  nations.  Subsistence  had  ceased  to  be 
necessary.  When  the  faithful  partook  of  the  sponta 
neous  fruits  around  them,  it  was  for  the  gratification 
of  the  taste,  and  not  for  the  support  of  life. 

Among  the  modern  beliefs  engrafted  upon  the 
ancient  faith,  there  is  one  which  is  worthy  of  partic 
ular  notice.  It  relates  to  Washington.1  According 
to  their  present  belief,  no  white  man  ever  reached 
the  Indian  heaven.  Not  having  been  created  by  the 
Great  Spirit,  no  provision  was  made  for  him  in  their 
scheme  of  theology.  He  was  excluded  both  from 
heaven  and  from  the  place  of  punishment.  But  an 
exception  was  made  in  favor  of  Washington.  Because 
of  his  justice  and  benevolence  to  the  Indian,  he  stood 
preeminent  above  all  other  white  men.  When,  by 
the  peace  of  1783,  the  Indians  were  abandoned  by 

1  His  name  among  the  Iroquois  was  Hd-no-dd-ga'-ne-arsy  which  signi 
fies  "  Town  Destroyer." 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

their  English  allies,  and  left  to  make  their  own  terms 
with  the  American  government,  the  Iroquois  were  more 
exposed  to  severe  measures  than  the  other  tribes  in 
their  alliance.  At  this  critical  moment,  Washington 
interfered  in  their  behalf,  as  the  protector  of  Indian 
rights,  and  the  advocate  of  a  policy  towards  them 
of  the  most  enlightened  justice  and  humanity .(29) 
After  his  death,  he  was  mourned  by  the  Iroquois  as 
a  benefactor  of  their  race,  and  his  memory  was  cher 
ished  with  reverence  and  affection.  A  belief  was 
spread  abroad  among  them,  that  the  Great  Spirit  had 
received  him  into  a  celestial  residence  upon  the  plains 
of  heaven,  the  only  white  man  whose  noble  deeds  had 
entitled  him  to  this  heavenly  favor.  Just  by  the  en 
trance  of  heaven  is  a  walled  enclosure,  the  ample 
grounds  within  which  are  laid  out  with  avenues  and 
shaded  walks.  Within  is  a  spacious  mansion,  con 
structed  in  the  fashion  of  a  fort.  Every  object  in 
nature  which  could  please  a  cultivated  taste  had  been 
gathered  in  this  blooming  Eden,  to  render  it  a  de 
lightful  dwelling-place  for  the  immortal  Washington. 
The  faithful  Indian,  as  he  enters  heaven,  passes  this 
enclosure.  He  sees  and  recognizes  the  illustrious 
inmate,  as  he  walks  to  and  fro  in  quiet  meditation. 
But  no  word  ever  passes  his  lips.  Dressed  in  his  uni 
form,  and  in  a  state  of  perfect  felicity,  he  is  destined  to 
remain  through  eternity  in  the  solitary  enjoyment  of  the 
celestial  residence  prepared  for  him  by  the  Great  Spirit. 
Surely  the  piety  and  the  gratitude  of  the  Iroquois 
have,  jointly,  reared  a  monument  to  Washington 
above  the  skies,  which  is  more  expressive  in  its  praise 
than  the  proudest  recitals  on  the  obelisk,  and  more 

172 


SPIRITUALITY    OF    THEIR    FAITH 

imperishable  in  its  duration  than  the  syenite  which 
holds  up  the  record  to  the  gaze  of  centuries. 

The  beliefs  of  our  primitive  inhabitants,  when 
brought  together  in  a  connected  form,  naturally  call 
forth  an  expression  of  surprise.  A  faith  so  purely 
spiritual,  so  free  from  the  tincture  of  human  passion, 
and  from  the  grossness  of  superstition,  can  scarcely  be 
credited,  when  examined  under  the  ordinary  estimate 
of  the  Indian  character.  It  has  been  the  misfortune 
of  the  Indian  never  to  be  rightly  understood,  espe 
cially  in  his  social  relations.  Their  religious  and 
moral  sentiments,  such  as  they  were,  exercised  as  de 
cisive  an  influence  upon  Indian  society,  as  the  precepts 
of  Christianity  do  over  enlightened  communities. 
They  furnished  springs  of  action,  rules  of  intercourse, 
and  powers  of  restraint.  And  yet,  where  is  the  pic 
ture  of  Indian  social  life  which  reveals  the  domestic 
virtues,  the  generous  friendships,  the  integrity  between 
man  and  man,  the  harmony  of  intercourse,  and  the 
sympathies  of  the  heart,  which  bloomed  and  flourished 
in  the  depths  of  the  forest?  We  have  met  the  red 
man  upon  the  war-path,  and  not  at  the  fireside.  We 
have  dealt  with  him  as  his  oppressor,  and  not  as  his 
friend.  His  evil  traits,  ever  present  with  the  mind, 
form  the  standard  of  judgment ;  and  when  his  virtues 
rise  up  before  us,  they  create  surprise,  rather  than  an 
swer  expectation,  because  the  standard  of  estimation  is 
universally  unjust. 

The  mind  of  the  Iroquois  was  deeply  imbued  with 
religious  sentiments,  the  practical  results,  the  actual 
fruits  of  which,  unseen  for  the  most  part,  by  those 
who  know  the  Indian  only  in  his  intercourse  with  the 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

whites,  reveal  themselves  in  unexpected  beauty,  when 
we  examine  his  social  relations,  and  view  him  in  his 
domestic  life.  Their  influence  upon  the  Iroquois,  in 
their  intercourse  with  other  nations,  is  necessarily  sec 
ondary.  To  judge  of  their  religious  system  from  its 
direct  effects,  it  is  necessary  to  look  into  Indian  society 
itself.  Here  its  primary  influence,  at  least,  must  fall. 
It  would  be  a  grateful  task  to  array  the  virtues,  which 
sprang  into  existence  in  the  seclusions  of  the  wilder 
ness,  to  light  up  the  character  of  the  red  man.  From 
the  harmony  which  characterized  their  political  rela 
tions  under  the  League,  down  to  the  domestic  quiet 
of  the  sylvan  home,  the  picture  is  much  the  same. 
Peace,  hospitality,  charity,  friendship,  harmony,  in 
tegrity,  religious  enthusiasm,  the  domestic  affections, 
found  a  generous  growth  and  cultivation  among  the 
Iroquois.  Genius,  learning,  and  Christianity  change 
the  features  of  society,  and  cast  over  it  an  artificial 
garment,  but  its  elements  continue  the  same.  It  need 
not  awaken  surprise  that  the  Indian  has  rivalled  many 
ot  the  highest  virtues  of  civilized  and  christianized 
man ;  or  that  in  some  of  the  rarest  traits  in  the  human 
character,  he  has  passed  quite  beyond  him. 

Whatever  excellences  the  Iroquois  character  pos 
sessed  are  to  be  ascribed,  in  a  great  measure,  to  their 
beliefs,  and  above  all,  to  their  unfailing  faith  in  the 
Great  Spirit.  By  adhering  to  that  sublime  but  simple 
rruth,  that  there  was  one  Supreme  Being,  who  created 
and  preserved  them,  they  not  only  escaped  an  idola 
trous  worship,  but  they  imbibed  a  more  ennobling  and 
spiritual  faith  than  has  fallen  to  the  lot  of  any  other 
unchristianized  people. (G2) 


Chapter  II 


Worship  of  the  Iroquois — Keepers  of  the  Faith  —  Thanks  to  the 
Maple  —  Planting  Festival — Berry  Festival  —  Green  Corn  Festi 
val  —  Harvest  Festival — New  Year's  Jubilee  —  Sacrifice  of  the 
White  Dog — Address  to  the  Great  Spirit  —  Influence  of  their 
Worship 

THE  Iroquois  had  a  systematic  worship.  It 
consisted  in  the  celebration  of  periodical  fes 
tivals,  which  were  held  at  stated  seasons  of 
the  year.  These  observances  were  suggested  by  the 
changes  in  the  seasons,  the  ripening  of  the  fruits,  and 
the  gathering  of  the  harvest.  They  were  performed 
annually,  with  the  same  established  ceremonies,  which 
had  been  handed  down  from  age  to  age.  The  wor 
ship  of  the  Iroquois,  as  before  remarked,  has  under 
gone  no  change  in  centuries*  It  is  still  the  same,  in 
all  essential  particulars,  that  it  was  at  the  period  of 
their  discovery.  Some  slight  additions,  ascribable, 
doubtless,  to  missionary  instructions,  will  be  detected, 
but  they  are  too  inconsiderable  to  change  the  form,  or 
disturb  the  harmony  of  the  whole.  Upon  an  exam 
ination  of  the  principal  features  of  the  system,  it  will 
become  apparent  that  it  was  chiefly  a  thanksgiving 
worship,  although  the  supplication  of  the  Great  Spirit 
for  the  continuance  of  his  protection  entered  into  it  as 
an  essential  element. 

Six    regular    festivals,   or    thanksgivings,   were    ob 
served   by  the  Iroquois.     The  first,  in  the  order  of 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

time,  was  the  Maple  festival.  This  was  a  return  of 
thanks  to  the  maple  itself,  for  yielding  its  sweet 
waters.  Next  was  the  Planting  festival,  designed, 
chiefly,  as  an  invocation  of  the  Great  Spirit  to  bless 
the  seed.  Third  came  the  Strawberry  festival,  in 
stituted  as  a  thanksgiving  for  the  first  fruits  of  the 
earth.  The  fourth  was  the  Green  Corn  festival,  de 
signed  as  a  thanksgiving  acknowledgment  for  the 
ripening  of  the  corn,  beans  and  squashes.  Next 
was  celebrated  the  Harvest  festival,  instituted  as  a 
general  thanksgiving  to  "  Our  Supporters,"  after  the 
gathering  of  the  harvest.  Last  in  the  enumeration  is 
placed  the  New  Year's  festival,  the  great  jubilee  of  the 
Iroquois,  at  which  trie  white  dog  was  sacrificed. 

The  principle  involved  in  the  formal  worship  of 
the  Great  Spirit  at  stated  periods,  and  the  fidelity 
with  which  the  Iroquois,  in  prosperity  and  in  ad 
versity,  adhered  to  these  observances  from  generation 
to  generation,  are  of  much  more  importance  in  form 
ing  a  judgment  of  their  religious  sentiments  than  the 
mere  ceremonies  themselves.  In  this  constant  rec 
ognition  of  their  dependence  upon  the  divine  power, 
there  is  much  to  awaken  a  feeling  of  sympathy  and 
a  sentiment  of  respect  for  a  people  who,  untaught 
by  revelation,  had  reached  such  high  conclusions. 
By  assembling  at  periodical  seasons  to  render  their 
thanks  to  Ha-wen-ne'-yu  for  his  gifts,  they  fully  rec 
ognized  the  duty  which  rested  upon  them  as  the  re 
cipients  of  such  favors.  And,  also,  by  supplicating 
the  continuance  of  his  watchful  care,  and  by  invok 
ing  his  blessing  upon  their  present  acts,  they  mani 
fested  the  sincerity  of  their  faith,  and  the  fulness 

176 


KEEPERS    OF    THE    FAITH 

of  their  trust  in  the  great  Author  of  their  being. 
But  the  ceremonies  themselves  are  not  without  a 
peculiar  interest.  They  will  convey  to  the  mind  a 
more  distinct  impression  of  the  nature  and  simplicity 
of  their  worship.  No  attempt  will  be  made  to  de 
scribe  these  observances  with  the  minuteness  of  a 
picture.  An  outline  of  those  appropriate  to  each 
festival  will  sufficiently  illustrate  their  general  charac 
ter  and  purpose. 

The  question  here  presents  itself  as  to  the  religious 
office  or  priesthood  among  the  Iroquois.  Under 
the  League  itself  no  sacerdotal  office  was  recognized. 
Sachems  were  raised  up,  and  invested  with  their  titles 
by  a  council  of  all  the  sachems  of  the  League.  Chiefs 
were  first  raised  up  in  the  nation  to  which  they  be 
longed,  and  their  title  was  afterwards  confirmed  by  the 
same  general  council.  But  no  religious  dignitaries 
were  ever  raised  up  by  the  council  of  sachems  to  fill 
any  priestly  station.  In  each  nation,  however,  there 
was  a  select  class  appointed  by  the  several  tribes  to 
take  the  charge  of  their  religious  festivals,  and  the 
general  supervision  of  their  worship.  They  were 
styled  Ho-nun-de -ont )  or  "  Keepers  of  the  Faith,"  as 
the  term  literally  signifies.  In  the  election  of  this 
class,  their  powers  and  duties,  and  the  tenure  of  their 
office,  there  are  many  circumstances  to  distinguish 
them  as  a  sacerdotal  order.(49)  To  their  number 
there  was  no  limit,  and  they  were  usually  about  as 
numerous  as  the  chiefs.  The  chiefs  themselves  were 
ex  officio  keepers  of  the  faith/f)5)  The  office  was 
elective,  and  continued  as  long  as  the  individual  was 
faithful  to  his  trust.  Suitable  persons  were  selected 
VOL.I.  —  12  1 77 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

by  the  wise  men  and  matrons  out  of  their  respective 
tribes,  and  advanced  to  the  office.  Their  original 
names  were  then  taken  away,  and  new  ones  assigned, 
out  of  a  collection  of  names  which  belonged  to  this 
class.  At  the  first  subsequent  council  of  the  nation, 
their  appointment  and  names  were  publicly  an 
nounced,  which  in  itself  completed  the  investiture. 
The  number  furnished  by  each  tribe  was  an  evidence 
of  its  fidelity  to  the  ancient  faith.  They  were,  to 
some  extent,  censors  of  the  people ;  and  their  ad 
monitions  were  received  with  kindness,  as  coming 
from  those  commissioned  to  remonstrate.  In  some 
cases  they  reported  the  evil  deeds  of  individuals  to 
the  council,  to  make  of  them  an  example  by  exposure. 
Sometimes  they  held  consultations  to  deliberate  upon 
the  moral  condition  of  the  people.  It  was  the  duty 
of  every  individual  to  accept  the  office  when  be 
stowed  ;  but  he  could  relinquish  it  at  any  moment  by 
laying  aside  his  new  name  and  resuming  his  old.(G8) 
It  was  their  duty  to  designate  the  times  for  hold 
ing  the  periodical  festivals,  to  make  the  necessary 
arrangements  for  their  celebration,  and  to  conduct  the 
ceremonies.  Certain  ones  of  their  number,  by  previ 
ous  appointment,  made  the  opening  speech,  and  the 
thanksgiving  address  at  the  council,  and  also  delivered 
religious  discourses  whenever  they  were  deemed  advis 
able.  All  of  the  members  of  this  class  were  equal  in 
authority  and  privileges.  Those  animated  by  the 
highest  zeal  and  enthusiasm  would  naturally  assume 
the  most  active  charge ;  but  they  had  no  acknowl 
edged  head.  The  distribution  of  all  powers,  duties 
and  offices  among  a  number  of  equals  was  the  pre- 

178 


KEEPERS   OF    THE    FAITH 

vailing  feature  of  their  civil  polity.  It  was  necessary 
that  women  as  well  as  men  should  be  appointed 
keepers  of  the  faith,  and  about  in  equal  numbers.  To 
the  matrons  more  particularly  was  intrusted  the  charge 
of  the  feast.  The  Iroquois  never  held  a  mourning  or 
religious  council,  without  preparing  an  entertainment 
for  all  the  people  in  attendance  on  the  evening  of 
each  day.  None  but  those  matrons  who  were  keepers 
of  the  faith  could  take  any  part  in  its  preparation. 
But  their  duties  were  not  confined  to  the  supervision 
of  the  feast.  They  had  an  equal  voice  in  the  general 
management  of  the  festivals,  and  of  all  of  their  re 
ligious  concernments.  During  a  discourse  or  address, 
all  the  keepers  of  the  faith  acted,  if  necessary,  as 
prompters  to  the  speaker,  and  through  him  com 
municated  to  the  people  any  injunction  or  precept 
which  they  deemed  advisable.  For  this  reason,  one 
of  their  names  as  a  class  was  that  of  "  prompters." 
Notwithstanding  the  systematic  organization  of  the 
keepers  of  the  faith,  and  the  precise  limitation  of 
their  duties,  there  do  not  seem  to  be  sufficient  rea 
sons  for  calling  this  class  a  religious  order,  or  a 
priesthood,  as  these  terms  are  usually  understood. 
They  were  distinguished  by  no  special  privileges, 
except  while  in  the  act  of  discharging  their  pre 
scribed  duties ;  they  wore  no  costume,  or  emblem 
of  office,  to  separate  them  from  the  people.  In  fact 
they  were  common  warriors,  and  common  women, 
and,  in  every  sense,  of  and  among  the  people.  The 
office  was  one  of  necessity,  and  was  without  reward, 
like  all  Indian  offices  of  every  name,  and  also  with 
out  particular  honor  to  the  individual. 

179 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

O-TA-DE-NONE'-NE-O    NA   WA'-TA ;;  OR,   THANKS    TO 
THE  MAPLE 

This  was  the  first  festival  of  the  spring.  It  was 
usually  called  the  Maple  Dance.  The  primary  idea 
of  this  ceremonial  was  to  return  thanks  to  the  maple 
itself;  but  at  the  same  time  they  rendered  their  thanks 
to  the  Great  Spirit  for  the  gift  of  the  maple.  It  lasted 
but  one  day.  When  the  sap  began  to  flow,  the 
keepers  of  the  faith  announced  the  time  and  place  for 
commemorating  the  recurrence  of  this  event,  and 
summoned  the  people  to  assemble  for  that  purpose. 
Some  days  before  the  time  appointed  for  the  festival, 
the  people  assembled  for  the  mutual  confession  of 
their  sins,  both  as  an  act  of  religious  duty,  and  as  a 
preparation  for  the  council.  This  act  preceded  all  the 
festivals ;  but  it  was  more  general  and  thorough  at  the 
three  last  than  at  the  three  first,  as  they  were  deemed 
more  important,  and  continued  for  a  greater  length  of 
time.  This  council,  Sa-nun-dat-ha-wa-ta^  literally  "  a 
meeting  for  repentance,"  was  opened  by  one  of  the 
keepers  of  the  faith,  with  an  address  upon  the  pro 
priety  and  importance  of  acknowledging  their  evil 
deeds,  to  strengthen  their  minds  against  future  tempta 
tions.  He  then  took  the  string  of  white  wampum  in 
his  hand,  and  set  the  example  by  a  confession  of  his 
own  faults ;  after  which  he  handed  the  string  to  the 
one  nearest  to  him,  who  received  it,  made  his  confes 
sion  in  like  manner,  and  passed  it  to  another.  In  this 
way  the  wampum  went  around  from  hand  to  hand ; 
and  those  who  had  confessions  to  make  stated  wherein 
they  had  done  wrong,  and  promised  to  do  better  in 

180 


THANKS    TO     THE    MAPLE 

the  future.  Old  and  young,  men,  women,  and  even 
children  all  united  in  this  public  acknowledgment  of 
their  faults,  and  joined  in  the  common  resolution  of 
amendment.  On  some  occasions  the  string  of  wam 
pum  was  placed  in  the  centre  of  the  room,  and  each 
one  advanced  in  turn  to  perform  the  duty,  as  the  in 
clination  seized  him.  A  confession  and  promise  with 
out  holding  the  wampum  would  be  of  no  avail.  It 
was  the  wampum  which  recorded  their  words,  and  gave 
their  pledge  of  sincerity.  The  object  of  the  confession 
was  future  amendment.  The  Iroquois  appear  to  have 
had  no  idea  either  of  the  atonement  or  of  the  forgive 
ness  of  sins.  Meritorious  acts  neutralized  evil  deeds, 
but  neither  the  one  nor  the  other,  when  done,  could 
be  recalled,  or  changed,  or  obliterated. 

The  celebration  of  this  festival  was  not  limited  to 
one  particular  place,  but  it  was  observed  in  all  the 
villages  of  the  several  nations  of  the  League,  which 
were  too  remote  to  unite  around  the  same  council-fire. 
At  the  time  appointed,  the  people  gathered  from  the 
subjacent  districts,  some  to  offer  religious  admonitions, 
some  prepared  for  the  dance,  others  for  the  games,  and 
still  others  for  the  enjoyment  of  the  feast.  It  was  one 
of  their  festive  days,  awakening  the  eagerness  of  ex 
pectation  in  the  minds  of  all.  On  the  morning  of  the 
day,  the  matrons,  to  whom  the  duty  appertained,  com 
menced  the  preparation  of  the  customary  feast  for  the 
people,  which  was  as  sumptuous  as  the  season  and  the 
means  of  the  hunter  life  would  afford.  Towards  me 
ridian,  the  out-door  sports  and  games,  which  were 
common  to  such  occasions,  were  suspended,  and  the 
people  assembled  in  council.  An  opening  speech  was 

181 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

then  delivered,  by  one  of  the  keepers  of  the  faith. 
The  following,  made  at  the  opening  of  one  of  these 
councils  among  the  Senecas,  is  in  the  usual  form,  and 
will  illustrate  their  general  character  :  — 

"  Friends  and  Relatives  :  —  The  sun,  the  ruler  of  the  day, 
is  high  in  his  path,  and  we  must  hasten  to  do  our  duty.  We 
are  assembled  to  observe  an  ancient  custom.  It  is  an  institu 
tion  handed  down  to  us  by  our  forefathers.  It  was  given  to 
them  by  the  Great  Spirit.  He  has  ever  required  of  his  people 
to  return  thanks  to  him  for  all  blessings  received.  We  have 
always  endeavored  to  live  faithful  to  this  wise  command. 

"  Friends  and  Relatives,  continue  to  listen  :  —  It  is  to  per 
form  this  duty  that  we  are  this  day  gathered.  The  season 
when  the  maple  tree  yields  its  sweet  waters  has  again  returned. 
We  are  all  thankful  that  it  is  so.  We  therefore  expect  all  of 
you  to  join  in  our  general  thanksgiving  to  the  maple.  We 
also  expect  you  to  join  in  a  thanksgiving  to  the  Great  Spirit, 
who  has  wisely  made  this  tree  for  the  good  of  man.  We 
hope  and  expect  that  order  and  harmony  will  prevail. 

"  Friends  and  Relatives  :  —  We  are  gratified  to  see  so  many 
here,  and  we  thank  you  all  that  you  have  thought  well  of  this 
matter.  We  thank  the  Great  Spirit,  that  he  has  been  kind  to 
so  many  of  us,  in  sparing  our  lives  to  participate  again  in  the 
festivities  of  this  season.  Na-hd '."  l 

Other  speeches  often  followed,  which  were  in  the 
nature  of  exhortations  to  duty.  These  occasions  were 
seized  upon  by  their  moral  teachers,  to  inculcate  anew 
the  precepts  of  their  faith,  and  to  offer  admonitions 
for  their  spiritual  guidance.  One  of  the  keepers  of 

1  It  is  almost  the  universal  custom  among  the  Iroquois  to  conclude 
their  speeches,  on  all  occasions,  with  this  exclamation.  It  signifies  sim 
ply,  "  I  have  done.'* 

182 


THANKS    TO    THE    MAPLE 

the  faith,  addressing  the  people  at  such  a  time,  would 
inculcate  the  virtues  which  became  a  warrior,  and  un 
fold  the  duties  which  were  incumbent  upon  them  as 
members  of  one  common  brotherhood.  The  duty  of 
living  in  harmony  and  peace,  of  avoiding  evil  speaking, 
.of  kindness  to  the  orphan,  of  charity  to  the  needy, 
and  of  hospitality  to  all,  would  be  among  the  promi 
nent  topics  brought  under  consideration.  He  would 
remind  them  that  the  Great  Spirit  noticed  and  re 
warded  good  acts,  and  that  those  who  hoped  for  suc 
cess  in  the  affairs  of  life,  should  be  ready  to  do  them 
whenever  occasion  offered  ;  that  those  who  had  done 
wrong  should  not  be  treated  harshly;  that  enmities 
were  not  to  be  contracted,  lest  a  spirit  of  revenge 
should  be  awakened,  which  would  never  sleep  ;  and 
finally,  that  those  who  pursued  the  right  path  would 
never  fall  into  trouble. 

When  these  speeches  and  exhortations  were  con 
cluded,  the  dance,  which  was  a  prominent  feature  of 
their  religious  festivals,  was  announced.  It  is  proper 
here  to  observe,  that  dancing  was  regarded  by  the 
Iroquois  as  an  appropriate  mode  of  worship.  They 
regarded  the  dance  as  a  perpetual  outward  ceremonial 
of  thanksgiving  to  the  Great  Spirit.  A  belief  prevailed 
among  them  that  the  custom  was  of  divine  origin. 
"  The  Great  Spirit  knew  the  Indian  could  not  live 
without  some  amusement,  therefore  he  originated  the 
idea  of  dancing,  which  he  gave  to  them."  The 
dance  set  apart  in  a  peculiar  manner  for  the  worship 
of  the  Great  Spirit,  at  their  festivals,  was  one  of  their 


(Johnson). 

183 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

own  invention ;  and  the  most  spirited,  graceful  and 
beautiful  in  their  list.  It  is  known  as  the  Great 
Feather  Dance  (O-sto-weh'-go-wa).  It  was  performed 
by  a  select  band,  in  full  costume,  and  was  reserved 
exclusively  for  religious  councils  and  for  great  occa 
sions.  It  lasted  about  an  hour,  never  failing  to  arouse 
a  deep  spirit  of  enthusiastic  excitement.  Before  the 
band  came  in,  one  of  the  keepers  of  the  faith  made  a 
brief  speech,  explanatory  of  its  origin,  nature  and 
objects  ;  in  which  the  popular  belief  was  interwoven, 
that  this  dance  would  be  enjoyed  by  the  faithful  in 
the  future  life,  in  the  realm  of  the  Great  Spirit,  to 
whose  worship  it  was  especially  consecrated. 

After  the  conclusion  of  this  dance  others  fol 
lowed,  in  which  all  participated.  Before  they  were 
ended,  the  usual  thanksgiving  address  to  the  Great 
Spirit,  with  the  burning  of  tobacco,  was  made.  In 
ancient  times  the  Maple  festival  was  terminated  with 
these  dances.  One  of  the  keepers  of  the  faith 
made  a  closing  speech,  after  which  the  people  par 
took  of  the  feast,  and  separated  for  their  respective 
homes. 

There  is  a  popular  belief  among  the  Iroquois  that 
the  early  part  of  the  day  is  dedicated  to  the  Great 
Spirit,  and  the  after  part  to  the  spirits  of  the  dead  ; 
consequently  their  religious  services  should  properly  be 
concluded  at  meridian.  They  still  retain  the  theory, 
and  to  this  day  religious  discourses  are  seldom  contin 
ued  after  noon  ;  but  in  practice  it  was  found  impossible, 
from  the  tardiness  of  the  people  in  assembling,  to  con 
clude  the  ceremonies  of  the  festival  before  twilight. 
A  further  innovation  was  made  many  years  ago  by 

184 


GA-KA-AH  OR  KILT. 


THANKS    TO   THE   MAPLE 

devoting  the  evenings  of  these  festive  days  to  dancing, 
for  the  entertainment  of  guests  from  other  villages  or 
nations,  who  chanced  to  be  with  them.  This  became, 
in  time,  the  universal  custom,  and  they  now  continue 
the  practice  for  their  own  amusement.  These  even 
ing  entertainments,  however,  in  strictness,  form  no 
part  of  the  festival,  although  apparently  it  is  one 
proceeding  from  the  opening  of  the  council  until  late 
at  night,  when  the  entertainment  is  ended.  A 
distinction  should  constantly  be  held  in  view,  between 
their  proper  religious  exercises,  and  their  amusements, 
and  also  between  the  ancient  mode  of  celebrating  these 
festivals,  and  the  modern.  The  regular  religious 
ceremonies  at  the  Maple  festival  consisted  of  the 
opening  discourse  by  one  of  the  keepers  of  the  faith, 
the  exhortations  of  others,  the  Feather  dance,  the 
thanksgiving  address  to  the  Great  Spirit,  with  the  in 
cense  of  tobacco,  two  or  three  other  dances,  the  clos 
ing  speech,  and  the  feast  in  common. 

In  ancient  times  these  ceremonies  were  concluded 
at  meridian,  but  in  modern  times  at  twilight.  Formerly 
all  the  exercises  at  these  festivals  were  of  a  strictly 
religious  character,  except  certain  games  which  were 
common  to  these  occasions.  But  in  later  times  other 
dances  have  been  added,  and  also  an  evening  entertain 
ment  devoted  exclusively  to  dancing.  There  were 
likewise  certain  games  of  chance,  sports,  and  athletic 
games,  common  to  all  these  festivals,  which  yet  formed 
no  part  of  their  religious  ceremonies.  They  were 
merely  outside  diversions  for  the  people.  Still  the 
Maple  festival,  as  celebrated  at  the  present  day 
among  the  descendants  of  the  ancient  Iroquois,  is 

'85 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

the  same,   in    its  essential    features,   as    at  the  period 
of  its  institution.1 


A-YENT'-WA-TA ;   OR,  PLANTING  FESTIVAL 

This  word  signifies  "  the  planting  season."  When 
this  time  arrived  another  festival  was  held  to  celebrate 
the  event.  It  continued  but  one  day.  In  its  observ 
ances  there  was  nothing  to  distinguish  it  very  materially 
from  the  Maple  festival.  A  description  is  therefore 
unnecessary,  except  to  point  out  some  peculiarities. 
The  object  of  this  festival  was  two-fold  :  to  render 
thanks  to  the  Great  Spirit  for  the  return  of  the  planting 
season,  and  to  invoke  his  blessing  upon  the  seed  which 
they  had  committed  to  the  earth,  that  it  might  yield 
an  abundant  harvest. 

The  Indian  had  no  Sabbath,  no  sacred  writings  to 
furnish  him  an  inexhaustible  fountain  of  instruction  ; 
but  his  gratitude  was  awakened  by  every  returning 
manifestation  of  divine  goodness.  When  nature  had 
reclothed  herself  in  the  vestments  of  spring,  and  the 
teeming  earth  invited  him  to  commit  the  seeds  to  her 
bosom,  he  recognized  in  the  event  the  watchful  kindness 
of  the  Great  Spirit.  There  is  something  eminently 
spiritual  and  beautiful  in  this  Indian  conception  of 
the  natural  periods  of  worship.  Seizing  upon  the 
moment  when  the  most  conspicuous  evidences  of  the 
protecting  care  of  the  Deity  were  before  him,  he  ac 
knowledged  both  his  existence  and  his  beneficence, 

1  The  Iroquois  have  long  been  in  the  habit  of  manufacturing  sugar  from 
the  maple.  Whether  they  learned  the  art  from  us,  or  we  from  them,  may 
be  a  difficult  question  ;  although  the  former  would  seem  the  more  prob 
able,  from  the  want  of  suitable  vessels  among  them  for  boiling. (87) 

186 


PLANTING    FESTIVAL 

and  manifested,  at  the  same  time,  his  gratitude  and 
devotion,  by  those  simple  rites  which  the  piety  of  his 
heart  suggested. 

At  the  time  appointed  by  the  keepers  of  the  faith, 
the  people  assembled  to  observe  the  day.  After  the 
speeches  were  over,  the  Feather  and  other  dances  were 
performed,  as  at  the  Maple  festival.  In  ancient  times, 
the  thanksgiving  address,  or  prayer  to  the  Great  Spirit, 
with  the  burning  of  tobacco,  was  confined  to  the  last 
three,  or  the  principal  festivals  ;  but  in  later  days  such 
a  prayer  was  offered  generally  at  the  first  three  also. 
As  elsewhere  observed,  when  the  Iroquois  returned 
thanks  to  the  various  objects  in  nature  which  ministered 
to  their  wants,  or  when  they  acknowledged  to  each 
other  their  thankfulness  to  the  Great  Spirit,  or  to  the 
lesser  Spirits,  they  never  burned  tobacco.  In  these 
cases,  their  thanks  were  returned  to  the  trees  and 
plants  and  elements  direct,  to  do  which,  according  to 
their  theology,  did  not  require  the  use  of  incense, 
while,  as  to  the  spiritual  world,  they  merely  avowed  to 
each  other  that  they  returned  their  thanks.  But  when 
they  offered  a  prayer,  or  called  upon  the  Great  Spirit, 
or  his  Invisible  Aids,  they  were  obliged  to  use  the  as 
cending  smoke  to  put  themselves  in  communication 
with  the  spiritual  world. 

This  address  occurred  at  no  particular  stage  in  the 
ceremonies  of  the  day.  The  keepers  of  the  faith 
having  appointed  one  of  their  number  to  perform  this 
duty,  the  person  designated  selected  a  suitable  moment 
for  its  delivery.  Advancing  to  the  fire  prepared  for 
the  purpose,  he  called  the  attention  of  the  people  by 
an  exclamation,  which  was  the  known  precursor  of 

187 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I  R  O      U  O  I  S 


this  address.  Having  sprinkled  a  few  leaves  of  Indian 
tobacco  upon  the  fire,  he  addressed  Ha-wen-ne]-yu>  as 
the  smoke  ascended.  The  following,  delivered  at  a 
Planting  festival  among  the  Senecas,  will  illustrate  the 
general  character  of  these  prayers  or  thanksgiving 
addresses  :  — 

"  Great  Spirit,  who  dwellest  alone,  listen  now  to  the  words 
of  thy  people  here  assembled.  The  smoke  of  our  offering 
arises.  Give  kind  attention  to  our  words,  as  they  arise  to  thee 
in  the  smoke.  We  thank  thee  for  this  return  of  the  planting  sea 
son.  Give  to  us  a  good  season,  that  our  crops  may  be  plentiful. 

"  Continue  to  listen,  for  the  smoke  yet  arises.  (Throwing 
on  tobacco.)  Preserve  us  from  all  pestilential  diseases.  Give 
strength  to  us  all  that  we  may  not  fall.  Preserve  our  old  men 
among  us,  and  protect  the  young.  Help  us  to  celebrate  with 
feeling  the  ceremonies  of  this  season.  Guide  the  minds  of  thy 
people,  that  they  may  remember  thee  in  all  their  actions. 
Na-bo1." 

There  was  nothing  further  to  distinguish  this  festi 
val  from  the  former. 

If,  after  the  planting  season,  a  drought  should  come 
upon  the  land,  threatening  a  failure  of  the  harvest,  a 
special  council  was  frequently  called,  to  invoke  He-no^ 
the  Thunderer,  to  send  rain  upon  the  earth.  Before 
the  time  appointed  for  this  council,  the  people  assem 
bled,  as  before  other  festivals,  for  mutual  confession. 
They  feared,  as  they  expressed  it,  "  that  some  of  their 
number  had  done  some  great  wrong,  for  which  the 
Great  Spirit  was  angry  with  them,  and  withheld  the 
rain  as  a  merited  punishment."  After  this  special 
council  was  opened  in  the  usual  form,  the  Thanksgiv- 

188 


BERRT    FESTIVAL 

ing  dance,  and  the  Ah-dd-weh,  hereafter  to  be  described, 
were  introduced,  which  were  supposed  to  be  peculiarly 
acceptable  to  He'-no.  At  a  proper  time,  in  the  progress 
of  these  ceremonies,  the  keeper  of  the  faith,  who  had 
been  appointed  as  usual,  advanced  to  the  fire,  and  having 
laid  on  the  leaves  of  tobacco,  and  gained  the  attention 
of  the  people,  he  made  the  following  invocation  of  the 
Thunderer,  as  the  incense  ascended  :  — 

"  He -no,  our  Grandfather,  listen  now  to  the  words  of  thy 
grandchildren.  We  feel  grieved.  Our  minds  are  sorely 
troubled.  We  fear  Our  Supporters  will  fail,  and  bring  famine 
upon  us.  We  ask  our  Grandfather  that  he  may  come,  and 
give  us  rain,  that  the  earth  may  not  dry  up,  and  refuse  to 
produce  for  our  support.  Thy  grandchildren  all  send  their 
salutations  to  their  grandfather,  He'-no" 

Then  taking  another  handful  of  tobacco,  and 
placing  it  upon  the  fire,  he  changed  the  address  to 

Ha-wen-ne'-yu  :  — 

"  Great  Spirit :  listen  to  the  words  of  thy  suffering  chil 
dren.  They  come  to  thee  with  pure  minds.  If  they  have 
done  wrong,  they  have  confessed,  and  turned  their  minds,  (at 
the  same  time  holding  up  the  string  of  white  wampum  with 
which  the  confession  was  recorded.)  Be  kind  to  us.  Hear 
our  grievances,  and  supply  our  wants.  Direct  that  He'-no  may 
come,  and  give  us  rain,  that  Our  Supporters  may  not  fail  us, 
and  bring  famine  to  our  homes.  Na-ho '." 

After  concluding  the  dance  the  assembly  was  dis 
missed. 

HA-NUN-DA'-YO  ;    OR,  BERRY    FESTIVAL 
In    the    progress    of   the  seasons,    next    came    the 
Strawberry,  the  first  fruit  of  the  earth.     The  Iroquois 

189 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I  R O ^U O  I  S 

seized  upon  this  spontaneous  gift  of  nature  for  their 
sustenance,  as  another  suitable  occasion  for  a  thanks 
giving  festival.  By  such  ceremonials  they  habituated 
their  minds  to  a  recognition  of  the  providential  care 
of  Ha-wen-ne'-yu ;  cultivating,  at  the  same  time,  a 
grateful  spirit  for  the  constant  return  of  his  gifts. 
The  observances  at  this  festival  were  the  same  as 
those  at  the  Maple,  with  a  sufficient  variation  of  terms 
to  designate  the  particular  occasion.  It  was  concluded 
with  a  feast  of  strawberries.  The  berries  were  pre 
pared  with  maple  sugar,  in  capacious  bark  trays,  in 
the  form  of  a  jelly  ;  and  in  this  condition  the  people 
feasted  upon  this  great  luxury  of  nature. 

The  ripening  of  the  Whortleberry  was  often  made 
the  occasion  of  another  festival.  It  was  in  all  respects 
like  the  last,,  the  only  difference  consisting  in  the  fact, 
that  the  former  was  an  acknowledgment  for  the  first 
fruit  of  plants,  and  the  latter  for  the  first  fruit  of 
trees. 

AH-DAKE'-WA-O  ;     OR,    GREEN   CORN   FESTIVAL 

The  word  from  which  this  takes  its  name  signifies 
"a  feast."  It  continued  four  days,  the  proceedings 
of  each  being  different  in  most  particulars,  but  each 
one  terminating  with  a  feast. 

When  the  green  corn  became  fit  for  use,  the  season 
of  plenty  with  the  Indian  had  emphatically  arrived. 
They  made  it  another  occasion  of  general  thanksgiving 
to  the  Great  Spirit,  and  of  feasting  and  rejoicing 
among  themselves.  Corn  has  ever  been  the  staple 
article  of  consumption  among  the  Iroquois.  They 
cultivated  this  plant,  and  also  the  bean  and  the 

190 


AH-DE-A-DA-WE-SA   OR   OVER-DRESS 

r  RONT 


AH-DE  -A-DA-WE-SA  oft   OVER-DRESS 

8  ACK 


GREEN    CORN    FESTIVAL 

squash,  before  the  formation  of  the  League.  From 
the  most  remote  period  to  which  tradition  reaches, 
the  knowledge  of  the  cultivation  and  use  of  these 
plants  has  been  handed  down  among  them.1  They 
raised  sufficient  quantities  of  each  to  supply  their  ut 
most  wants,  preparing  them  for  food  in  a  great  variety 
of  ways,  and  making  them  at  least  the  basis  of  their 
sustenance.119  In  their  own  mode  of  expressing 
the  idea,  these  plants  are  mentioned  together,  under 
the  figurative  name  of  "  Our  Life,"  or  "  Our  Sup 
porters."  It  cannot,  therefore,  be  affirmed  with  cor 
rectness,  that  the  Indian  subsisted  principally  by 
the  chase. (84)  After  the  formation  of  the  League, 
they  resided  in  permanent  villages,  and  within  certain 
well-defined  territorial  limits.  The  fruits  of  the  chase 
then  became  a  secondary,  although  a  necessary  means 
of  subsistence.2 

On  the  first  day  of  this  festival,  after  the  intro 
ductory  speeches  had  been  made,  the  Feather  dance, 
the  thanksgiving  address,  with  the  burning  of  to- 

1  According  to  the  legend,  the  corn  plant  sprang  from  the  bosom  of 
the  mother  of  the  Great  Spirit,  after  her  burial. 

2  The  quantities  of  corn  raised  by  the   Iroquois  was  a  constant  cause 
of  remark  among  those  who   went  earliest  among  them.      The  first  expe 
dition  into  the  Seneca  country,  of  a  warlike  character,  was  made  by  the 
Marquis  De   Nonville,   as   early  as    1687,  but  a  few  years  after  the  ge 
ographical  location  of  the  Iroquois  nations  became  known  to  the   French 
and  English.      He  thus  speaks  of  the  quantity  of  corn:    "  We  remained 
at  the  four  Seneca  villages  until   the   24th  of  July.      All  that  time  we 
spent  in  destroying  the   corn,   which  was  in  such  great  abundance,   that 
the1  loss,   including   old   corn    which  was   in  cache  which    we   burnt,  and 
that  which  was  standing,  was  computed  according  to  the  estimate  after 
wards    made,     at     four     hundred    thousand    minots    of    Indian     corn" 
(1,200,000    bushels).       Documentary   Hist.    New  York,   vol.    i.  p.    238. 
This,   however,  must  be  regarded  as  an  extravagant  estimate.  (88) 

191 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I  R  O      U  O  I  S 


bacco,  and  three  or  four  other  dances,  made  up  the 
principal  religious  exercises.  This  address  was  intro 
duced  in  the  midst  of  one  of  the  dances  which  suc 
ceeded  the  first.  One  more  specimen  of  these  brief 
prayers  of  the  Iroquois,  as  made  by  the  Senecas,  will 
be  furnished.  Having  placed  the  leaves  of  tobacco 
on  the  fire,  as  usual,  the  keeper  of  the  faith  thus 

addressed  Hd-wen-ne'-yu  :  — 
t 

"  Great  Spirit  in  heaven,  listen  to  our  words.  We  have 
assembled  to  perform  a  sacred  duty,  as  thou  hast  commanded. 
This  institution  has  descended  to  us  from  our  fathers.  We 
salute  thee  with  our  thanks,  that  thou  hast  preserved  so  many 
of  us  another  year,  to  participate  in  the  ceremonies  of  this 
occasion. 

"  Great  Spirit,  continue  to  listen  :  We  thank  thee  for  thy 
great  goodness  in  causing  our  mother,  the  earth,  again  to  bring 
forth  her  fruits.  We  thank  thee  that  thou  hast  caused  Our 
Supporters  to  yield  abundantly. 

u  Great  Spirit,  our  words  still  continue  to  flow  towards  thee. 
(Throwing  on  tobacco).  Preserve  us  from  all  danger.  Pre 
serve  our  aged  men.  Preserve  our  mothers.  Preserve  our 
warriors.  Preserve  our  children.  We  burn  this  tobacco  ; 
may  its  smoke  arise  to  thee.  May  our  thanks,  ascending  with 
it,  be  pleasing  to  thee.  Give  wisdom  to  the  keepers  of  the 
faith,  that  they  may  direct  these  ceremonies  with  propriety. 
Strengthen  our  warriors,  that  they  may  celebrate  with  pleasure 
the  sacred  dances  of  thy  appointment. 

"  Great  Spirit  ;  the  council  here  assembled,  the  aged  men 
and  women,  the  strong  warriors,  the  women  and  children,  unite 
their  voice  of  thanksgiving  to  thee.  Na-ho  !  "  l 

1  Fora  similar  address  in  use  among  the  Ottawas,  see  La  Hontan's 
North  Am.,  Lond.  Ed.  1735,  vol.  ii.  p.  34. 

192 


GREEN  CORN  FESTIVAL 

Before  partaking  of  the  feast,  the  people  went  out 
to  witness  some  of  those  games  which  were  often  in 
troduced,  as  an  amusement,  to  accompany  the  other 
exercises  of  these  festive  days. 

The  second  day  commenced  with  the  usual  address, 
after  which  they  had  the  Thanksgiving  dance,  Ga-na- 
o-ub,  which  was  the  principal  religious  exercise  of  the 
day.     This  dance  was  not  necessarily  a  costume  per 
formance,  although  it  was   usually  given  by  a  select 
band  in  full  dress.      In  figure,  step,  and  music,  it  was 
precisely  like  the  Feather  dance,  the  chief  difference 
between  them  being  the  introduction  of  short  thanks 
giving  speeches  between  the  songs  of  the  dance.     This 
dance  is  fully  explained  elsewhere ;  but  it  is  proper  to 
say,  to  make  it  intelligible  here,  that  the  music  con 
sisted  of  a  series  of  thanksgiving  songs,  performed  by 
select  singers,  who  accompanied  themselves  with  turtle- 
shell  rattles,  to  mark  time.      Each  song  lasted   about 
two  minutes,  during  which  the  band  danced  around 
the  room,  in  column,  with  great  animation.     When 
the  song  ceased,  the  dancers  walked  around  the  coun 
cil-house,  about  the  same  length  of  time,  to  the  beat 
•of  the  rattles.     The  thanksgiving  speeches  were  made 
during  these  intervals  between  the  songs.     A  person 
arose,  and  perhaps    thanked    the    Maple  as  follows : 
"  We  return  thanks  to  the   Maple,  which    yields   its 
sweet  waters  for  the  good  of  man."     Again  the  dance 
was    resumed,    and    another    song    danced    out,    after 
which  another  speech  was  made  by  some  other  person, 
perhaps  as  follows  :  "  We  return  thanks  to  the  bushes 
and  trees,  which  provide  us  with  fruit."     The  dance 

was   then   resumed    as    before.      In   this   manner    the 
VOL.  i.— 13  I93 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

thanksgiving  speeches,  the  songs  and  the  dance  were 
continued,  until  all  the  prominent  objects  in  nature 
had  been  made  the  subjects  of  special  notice.  There 
were  always  set  speeches  introduced  with  the  Thanks 
giving  dance,  at  the  Green  Corn  and  Harvest  festivals, 
and  they  formed  a  conspicuous  part  of  the  worship  of 
the  Iroquois.  These  speeches,  or  the  principal  ones, 
may  be  collected  into  one,  for  the  purpose  of  showing 
the  range  of  subjects  taken ;  yet  it  must  be  borne  in 
mind  that  each  object  formed  the  subject  of  a  separate 
speech,  and  was  followed  by  a  thanksgiving  song, 
adapted  to  the  case,  which  the  band  danced  through. 
It  may  be  proper  further  to  add,  that  these  speeches 
were  consolidated  to  form  the  principal  part  of  the 
annual  thanksgiving  address  to  the  Great  Spirit,  made 
at  the  burning  of  the  White  Dog.  The  following  is 
their  natural  order  :  — 

"  We  return  thanks  to  our  mother,  the  earth,  which 
sustains  us.  We  return  thanks  to  the  rivers  and 
streams,  which  supply  us  with  water.  We  return 
thanks  to  all  herbs,  which  furnish  medicines  for  the 
cure  of  our  diseases.  We  return  thanks  to  the  corn, 
and  to  her  sisters,  the  beans  and  squashes,  which  give 
us  life.  We  return  thanks  to  the  bushes  and  trees, 
which  .provide  us  with  fruit.  We  return  thanks  to 
the  wind,  which,  moving  the  air,  has  banished  dis 
eases.  We  return  thanks  to  the  moon  and  stars, 
which  have  given  to  us  their  light  when  the  sun  was 
gone.  We  return  thanks  to  our  grandfather  He'-no, 
that  he  has  protected  his  grandchildren  from  witches 
and  reptiles,  and  has  given  to  us  his  rain.  We 
return  thanks  to  the  sun,  that  he  has  looked  upon 

194 


GREEN    CORN    FESTIVAL 

the  earth  with  a  beneficent  eye.  Lastly,  we  return 
thanks  to  the  Great  Spirit,  in  whom  is  embodied  all 
goodness,  and  who  directs  all  things  for  the  good  of 
his  children." 

After  the  conclusion  of  the  Thanksgiving  dance, 
two  or  three  other  dances  followed,  and  after  them 
the  feast,  with  which  the  exercises  of  the  day  were 
concluded. 

The  third  morning  was  set  apart  for  a  thanksgiving 
concert,  called  the  Ah-dd-weh>  which  constituted  the 
chief  ceremony  of  the  day.  The  council  was  opened 
by  an  introductory  speech  by  one  of  the  keepers  of 
the  faith,  upon  its  nature,  objects,  and  institution. 
This  novelty  in  their  worship  was  a  succession  of  short 
speeches  made  by  different  persons,  one  after  another, 
returning  thanks  to  a  great  variety  of  objects,  each 
one  following  his  speech  with  an  appropriate  song,  the 
words  of  which  were  of  his  own  composing,  and  often 
times  the  music  also.  In  a  chorus  to  each  song  all 
the  people  joined,  thus  sending  forth  a  united  anthem 
of  praise.  They  passed  through  the  whole  range  of 
natural  objects,  thanking  each  one  directly,  as  in  the 
Thanksgiving  dance;  but  they  were  not  in  the  Ah- 
do-weh  confined  either  to  the  natural  or  to  the  spirit 
ual  world.  Acts  of  kindness,  personal  achievements, 
political  events,  in  a  word,  all  the  affairs  of  public  and 
private  life  were  open  on  this  occasion  to  the  indul 
gence  of  the  grateful  affections.  Oftentimes  one  or 
two  hours  were  consumed,  before  the  people  had  all 
expressed  their  thanks  to  each  other  for  personal 
favors,  to  the  works  of  nature  for  their  constant  min 
istration  to  their  wants,  and  to  the  Great  Spirit  and 

'95 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROgJLJOIS 

the  "  Invisible  Aids  "  for  their  protecting  care.  Many 
of  the  speeches  on  these  occasions,  especially  those 
which  referred  to  objects  in  the  natural  world,  were 
the  same  from  year  to  year.  But  those  which  grew 
out  of  their  private  relations  would  vary  with  circum 
stances.  This  was  esteemed  one  of  their  highest  re 
ligious  exercises,  and  it  always  continued  to  be  one  of 
their  favorite  observances.  When  the  Ah-do'-weh 
was  concluded,  two  or  three  dances  were  generally 
introduced  before  the  enjoyment  of  the  feast,  with 
which,  as  before  remarked,  each  day's  proceedings 
were  terminated. 

On  the  fourth  day,  the  festival  was  concluded  with 
the  peach-stone  game,  Gus-ga-a,  a  game  of  chance,  on 
which  they  bet  profusely,  and  to  which  they  were  ex 
travagantly  attached.  It  was  not  in  the  nature  of  a 
religious  exercise,  but  a  favorite  entertainment,  with 
which  to  terminate  the  Green  Corn  ceremonial.  It  is 
elsewhere  described. 

It  should  be  held  in  the  memory,  that  at  the  period 
of  the  institution  of  their  religious  festivals,  they  were 
concluded  at  meridian  ;  during  the  middle  period  of 
their  history,  they  were  continued  until  towards  twi 
light ;  but  in  modern  times,  an  evening  entertainment, 
in  the  way  of  dancing,  always  follows  each  day  ot  the 
festival,  so  long  as  it  continues,  although  it  forms  no 
part  of  their  religious  observances.  It  may  be  further 
observed,  that  at  the  present  time,  this  festival  lasts 
but  three  days,  the  proceedings  of  the  third  and  fourth 
being  completed  on  the  former  day. 

At  the  close  of  each  day,  the  people  regaled  them 
selves  upon  a  sumptuous  feast  of  succotash.  This 

196 


HARVEST   FESTIVAL 

was  always  the  entertainment  at  the  green  corn  sea 
son.  It  was  made  of  corn,  beans  and  squashes,  and 
was  always  a  favorite  article  of  food  with  the  red  man. 
It  may  be  well  to  state  in  this  connection,  that  among 
the  Iroquois  at  the  present  day,  they  do  not  sit  down 
together  to  a  common  repast,  except  at  religious 
councils  of  unusual  interest.  The  feast,  after  being 
prepared  at  the  place  of  council,  is  distributed  at  its 
close,  and  carried  by  the  women,  in  vessels  brought 
for  the  purpose,  to  their  respective  homes,  where  it  is 
enjoyed  by  each  family  at  their  own  fireside.  But  when 
the  people  feasted  together  after  the  ancient  fashion, 
as  they  still  do  occasionally,  they  selected  the  hour  of 
twilight.  The  huge  kettles  of  soup,  or  hommony,  or 
succotash,  as  the  case  might  be,  were  brought  into 
their  midst,  smoking  from  the  fire.  Before  partaking 
of  this  evening  banquet,  they  never  omitted  to  say 
grace,  which,  with  them,  was  a  simple  ceremonial,  but 
in  perfect  harmony  with  their  mode  of  worship.  It 
was  a  prolonged  exclamation,  upon  a  high  key,  by  the 
solitary  voice  of  one  of  the  keepers  of  the  faith,  fol 
lowed  by  a  swelling  chorus  from  the  multitude,  upon 
a  lower  note.  It  was  designed  as  an  acknowledgment 
to  each  other  of  their  gratitude  to  the  great  Giver  of 
the  feast. 

DA-YO-NUN'-NEO-QUA  NA    DE-O-HA'-KO;    OR, 
HARVEST   FESTIVAL 

After  the  gathering  of  the  harvest,  the  Iroquois 
held  another  general  thanksgiving  for  four  days.  It 
was  the  last  in  the  year,  as  the  New  Year's  obser 
vances  were  not  of  the  same  general  character.  The 

197 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

name  given  to  this  festival  signifies  "  Thanksgiving 
to  Our  Supporters."  It  was  instituted  primarily  to 
return  thanks  to  the  corn,  beans  and  squashes,  which 
are  always  characterized  by  the  Iroquois  under  this 
figurative  name.  Also,  to  the  triad  of  Spirits,  who  are 
so  intimately  connected  in  their  minds  with  the  plants 
themselves,  that  they  are  nearly  inseparable.  The 
resulting  object,  however,  of  all  these  Indian  rites, 
was  the  praise  of  Ha-wen-ne'-yu.  Nature  having 
matured  and  poured  forth  her  stores  for  their  suste 
nance,  they  instituted  this  ceremonial  as  a  perpetual 
acknowledgment  of  their  gratitude  for  each  returning 
harvest. 

In  the  mode  of  summoning  this  council,  and  in  the 
religious  ceremonies,  and  concluding  festivities  of  each 
day,  it  so  closely  resembled  the  Green  Corn  worship, 
that  a  separate  description  is  rendered  unnecessary. 

These  religious  councils  were  seasons  of  animation 
and  excitement.  The  greater  activity  in  social  inter 
course  among  the  people,  generally  awakened  by  these 
ceremonies  and  festivities,  contributed  largely  to  keep 
up  the  spirit  of  these  occasions.  In  the  evening,  as 
soon  as  the  twilight  hour  was  passed,  the  people 
gathered  for  the  dance,  as  this  entertainment,  since 
the  innovation  before  referred  to,  always  follows  the 
religious  ceremonies  of  each  day.  The  Iroquois  have 
numerous  dances,  and  to  the  practice  itself  they  have 
always  been  extravagantly  addicted.  On  such  occasions 
the  passion  was  gratified  by  a  free  indulgence,  and  the 
hours  of  the  night  passed  by  unheeded.  With  the 
Iroquois  in  their  festivities,  as  with  more  refined  com 
munities,  neither  the  admonition  of  the  setting  stars, 

198 


NEW    TEAR'S    JUBILEE 

nor  of  the  fallen  dew,  "  counselled  sleep."  Not,  per 
haps,  until  the  faint  light  of  approaching  day  illumined 
the  east,  did  the  spirit  of  enjoyment  decline,  and  the 
last  murmur  of  the  dispersing  council  finally  subside. 

GI'-YE-WA-NO-US-QUA-GO-WA  ;    OR,    NEW    YEAR'S 
JUBILEE  a*) 

The  name  given  to  this  festival  literally  signifies 
"  The  most  excellent  faith,"  or  "  The  supreme  belief." 

Among  the  ceremonies  incident  to  the  worship  of 
the  Iroquois,  the  most  novel  were  those  which  ushered 
in  the  new  year.  In  mid-winter,  usually  about  the 
first  of  February,  this  religious  celebration  was  held. 
It  continued  for  seven  successive  days,  revealing,  in 
its  various  ceremonials,  nearly  every  feature  of  their 
religious  system.  The  prominent  act  which  char 
acterized  this  jubilee,  and  which,  perhaps,  indicated 
what  they  understood  by  "The  most  excellent  faith," 
was  the  burning  of  the  White  Dog,  on  the  fifth  day 
of  the  festival.  This  annual  sacrifice  of  the  Iroquois 
has  long  been  known,  attracting  at  various  times  con 
siderable  attention.  But  the  true  principle  involved 
in  it  appears  not  to  have  been  rightly  understood.  In 
the  sequel,  it  will  be  found  to  be  a  very  simple  and 
tangible  idea,  harmonizing  fully  with  their  system  of 
faith  and  worship. 

Several  days  before  the  time  appointed  for  the 
jubilee,  the  people  assembled  for  the  confession  of 
their  sins.  On  this  occasion  they  were  more  thorough 

1  This  word  will  analyze  as  follows  :  Gi'-ye-wa,  faith  or  belief;  no- 
us'-qua  (superlative),  excellent  or  best  j  and  go'-wa,  great  or  supreme. 

199 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

in  the  work  than  at  any  other  season,  that  they 
might  enter  upon  the  new  year  with  a  firm  purpose 
of  amendment.  This  council  not  unfrequently  lasted 
three  days,  before  all  the  people  had  performed  this 
act  of  religious  duty. 

The  observances  of  the  new  year  were  commenced 
on  the  day  appointed,  by  two  of  the  keepers  of  the 
faith,  who  visited  every  house  in  and  about  the  Indian 
village,  morning  and  evening. (95)  They  were  disguised 
in  bear  skins  or  buffalo  robes,  which  were  secured 
around  their  heads  with  wreaths  of  corn-husks,  and 
then  gathered  in  loose  folds  about  the  body.  Wreaths 
of  corn-husks  were  also  adjusted  around  their  arms 
and  ankles.  They  were  robed  in  this  manner,  and 
painted  by  the  matrons,  who,  like  themselves,  were 
keepers  of  the  faith,  and  by  them  were  they  commis 
sioned  to  go  forth  in  this  formidable  attire,  to  an 
nounce  the  commencement  of  the  jubilee.  Taking 
corn-pounders  in  their  hands,  they  went  out  in  com 
pany,  on  the  morning  of  the  day,  to  perform  their 
duty.  Upon  entering  a  house,  they  saluted  the 
inmates  in  a  formal  manner,  after  which,  one  of  them, 
striking  upon  the  floor,  to  restore  silence  and  secure 
attention,  thus  addressed  them  :  — 

u  Listen,  Listen,  Listen: — The  ceremonies  which  the 
Great  Spirit  has  commanded  us  to  perform,  are  about  to  com 
mence.  Prepare  your  houses.  Clear  away  the  rubbish. 
Drive  out  all  evil  animals.  We  wish  nothing  to  hinder  or 
obstruct  the  coming  observances.  We  enjoin  upon  every  one 
to  obey  our  requirements.  Should  any  of  your  friends  be  taken 
sick  and  die,  we  command  you  not  to  mourn  for  them,  nor 
allow  any  of  your  friends  to  mourn.  But  lay  the  body  aside, 

200 


NEW    TEAR'S    JUBILEE 

and   enjoy   the  coming  ceremonies  with   us.      When  they  are 
over,  we  will  mourn  with  you."  1 

After  singing  a,  short  thanksgiving  song,  they  passed 
out. 

In  the  afternoon  this  visit  was  repeated  in  the  same 
manner.  After  saluting  the  family  as  before,  one  of 
the  keepers  of  the  faith  thus  addressed  them  :  - 

"  My  Nephews,  my  Nephews,  my  Nephews  :  —  We  now 
announce  to  you  that  the  New  Year's  ceremonies  have  com 
menced,  according  to  our  ancient  custom.  You  are,  each  of 
you,  now  required  to  go  forth,  and  participate  in  their  obser 
vance.  This  is  the  will  of  the  Great  Spirit.  Your  first  duty 
will  be  to  prepare  your  wooden  blades  (Ga-ger-we-sa)  with 
which  to  stir  up  the  ashes  upon  your  neighbors'  hearths. 
Then  return  to  the  Great  Spirit  your  individual  thanks  for  the 
return  of  this  season,  and  for  the  enjoyment  of  this  privilege." 

Having  sung  another  song,  appropriate  to  the  occa 
sion,  they  departed  finally,  and  when  they  had  in  this 
way  made  the  circuit  of  the  village,  the  ceremonies  of 
the  first  day  were  concluded. 

On  the  first  day,  however,  the  White  Dog  was 
strangled. (96)  They  selected  a  dog,  free  from  phys- 

1  This  singular  injunction  exhibits  the  deep  interest  taken  in  the  per 
formance  of  these  religious  ceremonies.  In  practice,  also,  they  possessed 
sufficient  self-control  to  carry  out  the  requirement  to  the  letter.  If  a  per 
son  died  during  this  festival,  the  body  was  laid  aside  until  it  was  con 
cluded,  and  the  relatives  of  the  deceased  participated  both  in  the  religious 
ceremonies,  and  in  the  amusements  connected  with  them,  with  as  much 
interest  and  attention  as  if  nothing  had  happened.  Sometimes  those  festi 
vals  were  broken  up  by  a  bad  omen  :  as  if,  for  instance,  a  dog  should  bite 
one  of  the  keepers  of  the  faith  on  his  visitorial  round,  they  would  stop  the 
festival,  and  appoint  a  new  one. 

201 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I  R  0      U  O  I  S 


ical  blemish,  and  of  a  pure  white,  if  such  an  one  could 
be  found.  The  white  deer,  white  squirrel,  and  other 
chance  animals  of  the  albino  kind,  were  regarded  as 
consecrated  to  the  Great  Spirit.  White  was  the  Iro- 
quois  emblem  of  purity  and  of  faith.  In  strangling 
the  dog,  they  were  careful  neither  to  shed  his  blood 
nor  break  his  bones.  The  dog  was  then  spotted,  in 
places,  over  his  body  and  limbs,  with  red  paint,  and 
ornamented  with  feathers  in  various  ways.  Around 
his  neck  was  hung  a  string  of  white  wampum,  the 
pledge  of  their  sincerity.  In  modern  times,  the  dog 
is  ornamented  with  a  profusion  of  many-colored  rib 
bons,  which  are  adjusted  around  his  body  and  limbs.1 
The  ornaments  placed  upon  the  dog  were  the  voluntary 
offerings  of  the  pious  ;  and  for  each  gift  thus  bestowed, 
the  giver  was  taught  to  expect  a  blessing.  When  the 
dog  had  been  thus  decorated,  it  was  suspended  by  the 
neck  about  eight  feet  from  the  ground,  on  the  branch 
ing  prong  of  a  pole  erected  for  that  purpose.  Here 
it  hung,  night  and  day,  until  the  morning  of  the  fifth 
day,  when  it  was  taken  down  to  be  burned.  Often 
times  two  dogs  were  burned,  one  for  each  four  of  the 
tribes.  (57)  In  this  case,  the  people  separated  into 
two  divisions,  and  after  going  through  separate  pre 
paratory  ceremonies,  they  united  around  the  same  altar 
for  the  burning  of  the  dogs,  and  the  offering  of  the 
thanksgiving  address  to  the  Great  Spirit. 

On  the  second  day  all  the  people  went  forth,  and 

1  The  author  once  (February  6,  1846)  counted  nine  different  colored 
ribbons  upon  a  white  dog  thus  hung  up  during  a  New  Year's  celebration 
among  the  Senecas  at  Tonawanda.  They  were  tied  around  his  mouth, 
neck,  legs,  body  and  tail. 

202 


NEW    YEAR'S    JUBILEE 

visited  in  turn  the  houses  of  their  neighbors,  either  in 
the  morning,  at  noon,  or  in  the  evening.  They  went 
in  small  parties  apparelled  in  their  best  attire.  It  was 
customary,  however,  for  the  people  to  be  preceded  by 
the  two  keepers  of  the  faith  who  made  the  recitations 
the  day  previous,  as  a  matter  of  etiquette ;  the  houses 
not  being  open  to  all,  until  these  personages  had  made 
their  call.  At  this  time  was  performed  the  ceremony 
of  stirring  the  ashes  upon  the  hearth,  which  appears 
to  have  no  particular  idea  attached  to  it,  beyond  that 
of  a  formal  visitation. (95)  Putting  aside  the  dis 
guise  of  the  day  before,  the  keepers  of  the  faith  as 
sumed  the  costume  of  warriors,  plumed  and  painted, 
in  which  attire  they  visited  every  family  three  times,  in 
the  morning,  at  noon,  and  in  the  evening.  Taking 
in  their  hands  wooden  blades  or  shovels,  they  entered 
the  lodge  and  saluted  the  family.  One  of  them  then 
stirred  the  ashes,  and  having  taken  up  a  quantity  upon 
the  blade  of  the  shovel,  and  sprinkled  them  upon  the 
hearth,  he  thus  addressed  the  inmates,  as  they  were  in 
the  act  of  falling :  "  I  thank  the  Great  Spirit  that  he 
has  spared  your  lives  again  to  witness  this  New  Year's 
celebration."  Then  repeating  the  process  with  another 
shovel  full  of  ashes,  he  continued  :  "  I  thank  the  Great 
Spirit  that  he  has  spared  my  life,  again  to  be  an  actor 
in  this  ceremony.  And  now  I  do  this  to  please  the 
Great  Spirit."  The  two  then  united  in  a  thanksgiving 
song  prepared  for  the  occasion,  upon  the  conclusion 
of  which  they  took  their  departure.  Other  parties  of 
the  people  then  came  in  successively,  and  each  went 
through  the  same  performances.  In  this  manner  every 
house  was  thrice  visited  on  the  second  day,  by  the 

203 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

keepers  of  the  faith  in  the  first  instance,  and  afterwards 
by  the  whole  community. 

The  proceedings  upon  the  third  and  fourth  days 
were  alike.  Small  dancing  parties  were  organized, 
which  visited  from  house  to  house,  and  danced  at  the 
domestic  fireside.  Each  set  selected  a  different  dance, 
appointed  their  own  leader,  and  furnished  their  own 
music.  One  party,  for  instance,  took  the  Feather 
dance,  another  the  Fish  dance,  another  the  Trotting 
dance,  to  give  variety  to  the  short  entertainments 
which  succeeded  each  other  at  every  house.  It  was 
not  uncommon,  on  such  occasions,  to  see  a  party  of 
juveniles,  about  a  dozen  in  number,  dressed  in  full 
costume,  feathered  and  painted,  dancing  the  War 
dance,  from  house  to  house,  with  all  the  zeal  and 
enthusiasm  which  this  dance  was  so  eminently  calcu 
lated  to  excite.  In  this  manner  every  house  was  made 
a  scene  of  gaiety  and  amusement,  for  none  was  so 
humble  or  so  retired  as  to  remain  unvisited. 

Another  pastime  incident  to  these  days  was  the 
formation  of  a  "  thieving  party,"  as  it  was  called,  a 
band  of  mischievous  boys,  disguised  with  false  faces, 
paint  and  rags,  to  collect  materials  for  a  feast.  This 
vagrant  company  strolled  from  house  to  house,  ac 
companied  by  an  old  woman  carrying  a  huge  basket. 
If  the  family  received  them  kindly,  and  made  them 
presents,  they  handed  the  latter  to  the  female  carrier, 
and  having  given  the  family  a  dance  in  acknowledg 
ment  of  the  present,  they  retired  without  committing 
any  depredations.  But  if  no  presents  were  made,  or 
such  as  were  insufficient,  they  purloined  whatever 
articles  they  could  most  adroitly  and  easily  conceal. 

204 


DREAMS 

If  detected,  they  at  once  made  restitution,  but  if  not, 
it  was  considered  a  fair  win.  On  the  return  of  this 
party  from  their  rounds,  all  the  articles  collected  were 
deposited  in  a  place  open  to  public  examination  ; 
where  any  one  who  had  lost  an  article  which  he 
particularly  prized,  was  allowed  to  redeem  it,  on 
paying  an  equivalent.  But  no  one  was  permitted 
to  reclaim,  as  the  owner,  any  article  successfully  taken 
by  this  thieving  party  on  its  professional  round. 
Upon  the  proceeds  of  this  forced  collection,  a  feast 
was  eventually  given,  together  with  a  dance  in  some 
private  family. 

Guessing  dreams  was  another  of  the  novel  practices 
of  the  Iroquois,  which  distinguished  these  festive  days. 
It  is  difficult  to  understand  precisely  how  far  the  self- 
delusion  under  which  the  dreamer  appeared  to  act 
was  real.  A  person  with  a  melancholy  and  dejected 
countenance,  entering  a  house,  announced  that  he  had 
a  dream,  and  requested  the  inmates  to  guess  it.  He 
thus  wandered  from  house  to  house,  until  he  found 
a  solution  which  suited  him.  This  was  either  received 
as  an  interpretation  of  an  actual  dream,  or  suggested 
such  a  dream  as  the  person  was  willing  to  adopt  as 
his  own.  He  at  once  avowed  that  his  dream  had 
been  correctly  guessed ;  and  if  the  dream,  as  inter 
preted,  prescribed  any  future  conduct,  he  fulfilled  it 
to  the  letter  at  whatever  sacrifice.  The  celebrated 
Cornplanter,  Gy-ant'-wa-ka,  resigned  his  chiefship  in 
consequence  of  a  dream.1  In  relation  to  dreams,  the 

1  The  dream  of  Cornplanter  occurred  about  the  year  1810.  His  in 
fluence  with  the  Senecas  had  been  for  some  years  on  the  wane,  which  his 
friends  ascribed  to  his  friendly  relations  with  the  whites.  During  a  New 

205 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

Iroquois  had  ever  been  prone  to  extravagant  and 
supernatural  beliefs.  They  often  regarded  a  dream 
as  a  divine  monition,  and  followed  its  injunctions  to 
the  utmost  extremity.  Their  notions  upon  this  sub 
ject  recall  to  remembrance  the  conceit  of  Homer, 
that  "  dreams  descend  from  Jove."  (62) 

During  the  first  four  days  the  people  were  without 
a  feast,  from  the  fact  that  the  observances  themselves 
did  not  require  the  assembling  of  the  people  at  the 
council-house.  But  entertainments  were  given  in  the 

Year's  celebration  at  his  village  on  the  Allegany,  he  went  from  house  to 
house  for  three  days,  announcing  wherever  he  went  that  he  had  had  a 
dream,  and  wished  to  find  some  one  to  guess  it.  On  the  third  day,  a 
Seneca  told  him  that  he  could  relate  his  dream.  Seeing  him  nearly  naked 
and  shivering  with  cold,  he  said  :  "  You  shall  henceforth  be  called 
O-no'-no,"  meaning  "  cold."  This  signified  that  his  name,  Gy-ant'- 
•iva-ka,  should  pass  away  from  him,  and  with  it  his  title  as  a  chief.  He 
then  explained  the  interpretation  to  Cornplanter  more  fully  :  "  That  he  had 
had  a  sufficient  term  of  service  for  the  good  of  the  nation.  That  he  was 
grown  too  old  to  be  of  much  further  use  as  a  warrior  or  as  a  counsellor, 
and  that  he  must  therefore  appoint  a  successor.  That  if  he  wished  to 
preserve  the  continued  good-will  of  the  Great  Spirit,  he  must  remove  from 
his  house  and  sight  every  article  of  the  workmanship  or  invention  of  the 
white  man.'"  Cornplanter,  having  listened  with  earnest  attention  to  this 
interpretation,  confessed  that  it  was  correctly  guessed,  and  that  he  was  re 
solved  to  execute  it.  His  presents,  which  he  had  received  from  Wash 
ington,  Adams,  Jefferson,  and  others,  he  collected  together,  with  the 
exception  of  his  tomahawk,  and  burned  them  up.  Among  the  presents 
thus  consumed  was  a  full  uniform  of  an  American  officer,  including  an 
elegant  sword  and  his  medal  given  him  by  Washington.  He  then  selected 
an  old  and  intimate  friend  to  be  his  successor,  and  sent  to  him  his  toma 
hawk  and  a  belt  of  wampum,  to  announce  his  resolution  and  his  wishes. 
Although  contrary  to  their  customs,  the  Senecas,  out  of  reverence  for 
his  extraordinary  dream,  at  once  raised  up  as  a  chief  the  person  selected 
by  Cornplanter,  and  invested  him  with  the  name  of  Gy-ant'-^va-ka,  which 
he  bore  during  his  life.  Cornplanter,  after  this  event,  was  always  known 
among  the  Iroquois  under  the  name  of  O-no'-no.  This  tomahawk,  the 
last  relic  of  Cornplanter,  is  now  in  the  State  Historical  Collection  at 
Albany.  (112) 

206 


SACRIFICE    OF    THE    WHITE    DOG 

evenings  at  private  houses,  where  the  night  was  devoted 
to  the  dance.  Another  amusement  at  this  particular 
season  was  the  Snow-snake  game,  which,  like  all  Indian 
games,  was  wont  to  arouse  considerable  interest. 

On  the  morning  of  the  fifth  day,  soon  after  dawn, 
the  White  Dog  was  burned  on  an  altar  of  wood 
erected  by  the  keepers  of  the  faith  near  the  council- 
house.  It  is  difficult,  from  outward  observation,  to 
draw  forth  the  true  intent  with  which  the  dog  was 
burned.  The  obscurity  with  which  the  object  was 
veiled  has  led  to  various  conjectures.  Among  other 
things,  it  has  been  pronounced  a  sacrifice  for  sin. 
In  the  religious  system  of  the  Iroquois,  there  is  no 
recognition  of  the  doctrine  of  atonement  for  sin,  or 
of  the  absolution  or  forgiveness  of  sins.  Upon  this 
whole  subject,  their  system  is  silent.  An  act  once 
done  was  registered  beyond  the  power  of  change. 
The  greatest  advance  upon  this  point  of  faith  was 
the  belief  that  good  deeds  cancelled  the  evil,  thus 
placing  heaven,  through  good  works,  within  the  reach 
of  all.  The  notion  that  this  was  an  expiation  for 
sin  is  thus  refuted  by  their  system  of  theology  itself. 
The  other  idea,  that  the  sins  of  the  people,  by  some 
mystic  process,  were  transferred  to  the  dog,  and  by 
him  thus  borne  away,  on  the  principle  of  the  scape 
goat  of  the  Hebrews,  is  also  without  any  foundation 
in  truth.  The  burning  of  the  dog  had  not  the  slight 
est  connection  with  the  sins  of  the  people.  On  the 
contrary,  the  simple  idea  of  the  sacrifice  was,  to  send 
up  the  spirit  of  the  dog  as  a  messenger  to  the  Great 
Spirit,  to  announce  their  continued  fidelity  to  his 
service,  and  also  to  convey  to  him  their  united 

207 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

thanks  for  the  blessings  of  the  year.  The  fidelity 
of  the  dog,  the  companion  of  the  Indian,  as  a  hunter, 
was  emblematical  of  their  fidelity.  No  messenger  so 
trusty  could  be  found  to  bear  their  petitions  to  the 
Master  of  life.  The  Iroquois  believed  that  the  Great 
Spirit  made  a  covenant  with  their  fathers  to  the  effect, 
that  when  they  should  send  up  to  him  the  spirit  of 
a  dog,  of  a  spotless  white,  he  would  receive  it  as  the 
pledge  of  their  adherence  to  his  worship,  and  his  ears 
would  thus  be  opened  in  a  special  manner  to  their 
petitions.  To  approach  Hd-wen-ne-yu  in  the  most 
acceptable  manner,  and  to  gain  attention  to  their 
thanksgiving  acknowledgments  and  supplications  in 
the  way  of  his  own  appointing,  was  the  end  and 
object  of  burning  the  dog.  They  hung  around  his 
neck  a  string  of  white  wampum,  the  pledge  of  their 
faith.  They  believed  that  the  spirit  of  the  dog  hov 
ered  around  the  body  until  it  was  committed  to 
the  flames,  when  it  ascended  into  the  presence  of 
the  Great  Spirit,  itself  the  acknowledged  evidence 
of  their  fidelity,  and  bearing  also  to  him  the  united 
thanks  and  supplications  of  the  people.  This  sacri 
fice  was  the  most  solemn  and  impressive  manner  of 
drawing  near  to  the  Great  Spirit  known  to  the  Iro 
quois.  They  used  the  spirit  of  the  dog  in  precisely  the 
same  manner  that  they  did  the  incense  of  tobacco,  as  an 
instrumentality  through  which  to  commune  with  their 
Maker.  This  sacrifice  was  their  highest  act  of  piety. 

The  burning  of  the  dog  was  attended  with  many 
ceremonies.  It  was  first  taken  down  and  laid  out 
upon  a  bench  in  the  council-house,  while  the  fire  of 
the  altar  was  kindling.  A  speech  was  then  made  over 

208 


SACRIFICE    OF    THE    WHITE    DOG 

it  by  one  of  the  keepers  of  the  faith,  in  which  he 
spoke  of  the  antiquity  of  this  institution  of  their 
fathers,  of  its  importance  and  solemnity,  and  finally 
enjoined  upon  them  all  to  direct  their  thoughts  to 
the  Great  Spirit,  and  unite  with  the  keepers  of  the 
faith  in  these  observances.  He  concluded  with  thank 
ing  the  Great  Spirit,  that  the  lives  of  so  many  of 
them  had  been  spared  through  another  year.  A 
chant  or  song,  appropriate  to  the  occasion,  was  then 
sung,  the  people  joining  in  chorus.  By  the  time 
this  was  over,  the  altar  was  blazing  up  on  every 
side  ready  for  the  offering.  A  procession  was  then 
formed,  the  officiating  keeper  of  the  faith  preceding, 
followed  by  four  others  bearing  the  dog  upon  a  kind 
of  bark  litter,  behind  which  came  the  people  in  Indian 
file.  A  loud  exclamation,  in  the  nature  of  a  war- 
whoop,  announced  the  starting  of  the  procession. 
They  moved  on  towards  the  altar,  and  having  marched 
around  it,  the  keepers  of  the  faith  halted,  facing  the 
rising  sun.  With  some  immaterial  ceremonies,  the  dog 
was  laid  upon  the  burning  altar,  and  as  the  flames  sur 
rounded  the  offering,  the  officiating  keeper  of  the  faith, 
by  a  species  of  ejaculation,  upon  a  high  key,  thrice 
repeated,  invoked  the  attention  of  the  Great  Spirit. 

"j^#tf,  qua,  qua :  —  (Hail,  hail,  hail.)  Thou  who  hast  cre 
ated  all  things,  who  mlest  all  things,  and  who  givest  laws  and 
commands  to  thy  creatures,  listen  to  our  words.  We  now 
obey  thy  commands.  That  which  thou  hast  made  is  returning 
unto  thee.  It  is  rising  to  thee,  by  which  it  will  appear  that 
our  words  are  true."  l 

1  Some  leaves  of  tobacco  were  attached    to  the  wampum  around  the 
dog's  neck,  with  the  incense   of  which  this  invocation  was  made. 
VOL.  i. —  14  209 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I  R  O      U  0  I  S 


Several  thanksgiving  songs  or  chants,  in  measured 
verse,  were  then  sung  by  the  keepers  of  the  faith,  the 
people  joining  in  chorus.  After  this,  was  made  the 
great  thanksgiving  address  of  the  Iroquois.  The 
keeper  of  the  faith  appointed  to  deliver  it,  invoked 
the  attention  of  Ha-wen-ne-yu  by  the  same  thrice- 
repeated  exclamation.  As  the  speech  progressed,  he 
threw  leaves  of  tobacco  into  the  fire  from  time  to 
time,  that  its  incense  might  constantly  ascend  during 
the  whole  address.  The  following  is  the  address,  as 
delivered  among  the  Senecas:1  — 

"Hail,  Hail,  Hail:  —  Listen  now,  with  an  open  ear,  to  the 
words  of  thy  people,  as  they  ascend  to  thy  dwelling,  in  the 
smoke  of  our  offering.  Behold  thy  people  here  assembled. 
Behold,  they  have  come  up  to  celebrate  anew  the  sacred  rites 
thou  hast  given  them.  Look  down  upon  us  beneficently. 
Give  us  wisdom  faithfully  to  execute  thy  commands. 

"  Continue  to  listen  :  —  The  united  voice  of  thy  people  con 
tinues  to  ascend  to  thee.  Forbid,  by  thy  wisdom,  all  things 
which  shall  tempt  thy  people  to  relinquish  their  ancient  faith. 
Give  us  power  to  celebrate  at  all  times,  with  zeal  and  fidelity, 
the  sacred  ceremonies  which  thou  hast  given  us. 

u  Continue  to  listen  :  —  Give  to  the  keepers  of  the  faith 
wisdom  to  execute  properly  thy  commands.  Give  to  our 
warriors,  and  our  mothers,  strength  to  perform  the  sacred  cer 
emonies  of  thy  institution.  We  thank  thee  that,  in  thy  wis 
dom,  thou  hast  given  to  us  these  commands.  We  thank  thee 
that  thou  hast  preserved  them  pure  unto  this  day. 

"  Continue  to  listen  :  —  We  thank  thee    that   the   lives  of 

1  Taken  down  by  Hd-sa-no-an'-da  (Ely  S.  Parker),  as  delivered  by  his 
grandfather,  Sose-/ta'-<wa,  at  Tonawanda.  This  is  the  ancient  address 
handed  down  from  generation  to  generation,  and  unchanged  in  its  essential 
particulars.  Sose-ha'-^wd  has  delivered  it  thus  for  the  past  twenty-five 
years  at  Tonawanda. 

210 


ADDRESS    TO     THE    GREAT    SPIRIT 

so  many  of  thy  children  are  spared,  to  participate  in  the  exer 
cises  of  this  occasion.  Our  minds  are  gladdened  to  be  made 
partakers  in  the  execution  of  thy  commands. 

"  We  return  thanks  to  our  mother,  the  earth,  which  sus 
tains  us.  We  thank  thee  that  thou  hast  caused  her  to  yield 
so  plentifully  of  her  fruits.  Cause  that,  in  the  season  coming, 
she  may  not  withhold  of  her  fulness,  and  leave  any  to  suffer 
for  want. 

u  We  return  thanks  to  the  rivers  and  streams,  which  run 
their  courses  upon  the  bosom  of  our  mother  the  earth.  We 
thank  thee  that  thou  hast  supplied  them  with  life,  for  our 
comfort  and  support.  Grant  that  this  blessing  may  continue. 

"We  return  thanks  to  all  the  herbs  and  plants  of  the  earth. 
We  thank  thee  that  in  thy  goodness  thou  hast  blest  them  all, 
and  given  them  strength  to  preserve  our  bodies  healthy,  and  to 
cure  us  of  the  diseases  inflicted  upon  us  by  evil  spirits.  We 
ask  thee  not  to  take  from  us  these  blessings. 

"  We  return  thanks  to  the  Three  Sisters.  We  thank  thee 
that  thou  hast  provided  them  as  the  main  supporters  of  our 
lives.  We  thank  thee  for  the  abundant  harvest  gathered  in 
during  the  past  season.  We  ask  that  Our  Supporters  may 
never  fail  us,  and  cause  our  children  to  suffer  from  want. 

<cWe  return  thanks  to  the  bushes  and  trees  which  provide 
us  with  fruit.  We  thank  thee  that  thou  hast  blessed  them, 
and  made  them  to  produce  for  the  good  of  thy  creatures.  We 
ask  that  they  may  not  refuse  to  yield  plentifully  for  our 
enjoyment. 

u  We  return  thanks  to  the  winds,  which,  moving,  have 
banished  all  diseases.  We  thank  thee  that  thou  hast  thus 
ordered.  We  ask  the  continuation  of  this  great  blessing. 

"  We  return  thanks  to  our  grandfather  He -no.  We  thank 
thee  that  thou  hast  so  wisely  provided  for  our  happiness  and 
comfort,  in  ordering  the  rain  to  descend  upon  the  earth,  giving 
us  water,  and  causing  all  plants  to  grow.  We  thank  thee  that 

211 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I  R O QU O I S 

thou  hast  given  us  He'-no,  our  grandfather,  to  do  thy  will  in 
the  protection  of  thy  people.  We  ask  that  this  great  blessing 
may  be  continued  to  us. 

uWe  return  thanks  to  the  moon  and  stars,  which  give  us 
light  when  the  sun  has  gone  to  his  rest.  We  thank  thee  that 
thy  wisdom  has  so  kindly  provided,  that  light  is  never  wanting 
to  us.  Continue  unto  us  this  goodness. 

u  We  return  thanks  to  the  sun,  that  he  has  looked  upon  the 
earth  with  a  beneficent  eye.  We  thank  thee  that  thou  hast, 
in  thy  unbounded  wisdom,  commanded  the  sun  to  regulate  the 
return  of  the  seasons,  to  dispense  heat  and  cold,  and  to  watch 
over  the  comfort  of  thy  people.  Give  unto  us  that  wisdom 
which  will  guide  us  in  the  path  of  truth.  Keep  us  from  all 
evil  ways,  that  the  sun  may  never  hide  his  face  from  us  for 
shame  and  leave  us  in  darkness. 

"We  return  thanks  to  the  Ho-no-che-no'-kek.1  We  thank 
thee  that  thou.  hast  provided  so  many  agencies  for  our  good 
and  happiness. 

"Lastly,  we  return  thanks  to  thee,  our  Creator  and  Ruler. 
In  thee  are  embodied  all  things.  We  believe  thou  canst  do  no 
evil ;  that  thou  doest  all  things  for  our  good  and  happiness. 
Should  thy  people  disobey  thy  commands,  deal  not  harshly 
with  them  ;  but  be  kind  to  us,  as  thou  hast  been  to  our  fathers 
in  times  long  gone  by.  Hearken  unto  our  words  as  they  have 

1  The  Ho-no-che-no' -keh  included  the  whole  spiritual  world,  or  subor 
dinate  spirits  created  by  Hd-iven-ne'-yu.  They  were  believed  by  the  Iro- 
quois  to  be  mere  agencies  or  instrumentalities  through  whom  the  Great 
Spirit  administered  the  government  of  the  world.  They  were  also  believed 
to  have  been  created  to  minister  to  the  happiness  and  protection  of  the 
Indian  upon  earth. 

It  should  also  be  noticed  that  the  leading  objects  in  the  natural  world 
which  are  made  the  subject  of  their  thanks,  are  designed  to  include  all 
lesser  objects.  Under  each  head,  by  a  figure  of  speech,  whole  classes  of 
objects  were  included.  Thus  "  the  rivers  and  streams11  include  all  bodies 
of  water,  springs,  fishes,  &c. ;  "the  wind11  includes  all  the  birds  of  the 
air. 

212 


ADDRESS    TO     THE    GREAT    SPIRIT 

ascended,  and  may  they  be  pleasing  to  thee  our  Creator,  the 
Preserver  and  Ruler  of  all  things,  visible  and  invisible. 
Na-M." 

After  the  delivery  of  this  address,  the  people,  leav 
ing  the  partly  consumed  offering,  returned  to  the 
council-house,  where  the  Feather  dance  was  performed. 
With  this  the  religious  exercises  of  the  day  were  con 
cluded.  Other  dances,  however,  followed,  for  the 
entertainment  of  the  people,  and  the  day  and  evening 
were  given  up  to  this  amusement.  Last  of  all  came 
the  feast,  with  which  the  proceedings  of  the  day  were 
terminated. 

On  the  morning  of  the  sixth  day,  the  people  again 
assembled  at  the  place  of  council.  This  day  was 
observed  in  about  the  same  manner  as  one  of  their 
ordinary  religious  days,  at  which  the  Thanksgiving 
dance  was  introduced. 

The  seventh  and  last  day  was  commenced  with  the 
Ah-dd-weh ;  after  which  the  Peach-stone  game  was 
introduced,  with  the  determination  of  which  ended 
the  New  Year's  jubilee. 

Other  incidents  and  circumstances  connected  with 
the  worship  of  the  Iroquois  might  be  pointed  out, 
and  would  be  necessary  to  a  full  explanation  of  the 
details  of  their  religious  system  ;  but  sufficient  has 
been  presented  to  exhibit  its  framework,  and  the 
principles  upon  which  it  rested.  No  attempt  has 
been  made  to  furnish  a  picture  of  either  of  these 
religious  councils,  by  a  minute  description  of  their 
proceedings.  All  the  detail  has  necessarily  been 
omitted.  To  realize  these  festive  and  religious  cere 
monials  of  our  primitive  inhabitants,  it  would  be 

213 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO9UOIS 

^\j 

necessary  to  have  a  delineation  of  the  incidents  of  each 
day,  step  by  step,  a  description  of  the  dances,  the 
several  games,  and  of  the  preparation  of  the  feast,  and 
also  an  explanation  of  their  modes  of  social  intercourse 
and  of  action,  the  spirit  by  which  the  people  were 
animated,  and  the  general  character  of  the  scene. 

These  festivals  have  been  observed  from  generation 
to  generation,  and  at  the  same  seasons  of  the  year, 
upon  the  Mohawk,  at  Oneida,  in  the  valley  of 
Onondaga,  on  the  shore  of  the  Cayuga,  and  in  the 
several  villages  of  the  Senecas.  Before  the  voice  of 
the  white  man  was  heard  in  these  peaceful  and 
secluded  retreats  of  the  forest,  that  of  the  Indian  had 
been  lifted  up  to  the  Great  Spirit  with  thanksgiving 
and  praise.  The  origin  of  these  festivals  is  lost,  as 
well  as  the  date  and  order  of  their  institution  ;  but 
the  Iroquois  believe  that  they  have  been  observed 
among  them,  at  least  since  the  formation  of  the 
League.  They  have  no  tradition,  which  professes  to 
have  taken  the  custody  of  these  dates  and  events. 

To  one  who  has  witnessed  these  observances 
from  time  to  time,  and  learned  to  comprehend  the 
principles  and  motives  in  which  they  originated,  they 
possess  a  peculiar  but  almost  indefinable  interest. 
These  simple  religious  rites  of  a  people,  sitting,  it 
must  be  admitted,  near  the  full  meridian  of  natural 
religion,  are  calculated  to  fill  the  mind  with  serious 
impressions.  In  their  earnest  and  constant  efforts 
to  draw  near  to  the  great  Author  of  their  being, 
to  offer  thanks  for  the  unnumbered  blessings  strewn 
upon  their  path,  and  to  supplicate  the  continuance  of 
that  watchful  care  without  which  there  was  no  pres- 

214 


INFLUENCE    OF    THEIR    WORSHIP 

ervation,  there  is  a  degree  of  heart-felt  piety  which 
the  mind  cannot  resist.  We  may  derive  instruction 
from  the  faith  of  any  race,  if  it  rises  above  the 
grossness  of  superstition,  into  the  regions  of  spiritual 
meditation.  The  moral  nature  of  man  unfolds  with 
thought;  and  the  Indian,  in  the  shades  of  the  forest, 
as  well  as  Socrates  in  the  groves  of  Athens,  or  Moses 
upon  the  skirts  of  Sinai,  may  contribute  some  new 
lessons  to  the  fund  of  moral  instruction. 

In  this  and  the  preceding  chapter,  the  design  has  been 
to  expose  the  structure  of  the  worship  of  the  Iroquois, 
and  to  elucidate  the  beliefs  by  which  it  was  upheld. 
By  the  standard  of  Christian  judgment,  it  must  be 
confessed  that  the  Faith  and  Worship  of  the  Iroquois 
make  up  a  system  which,  in  its  approaches  to  the 
truth,  rises  infinitely  above  the  theological  schemes  of 
all  other  races,  both  ancient  and  modern,  which  origi 
nated  independently  of  revelation.  Having  a  firm 
hold  upon  the  great  truths  of  natural  religion,  they 
established  a  ceremonious  but  simple  worship.  Unlike 
the  bloody  ritual  of  the  Aztecs,  its  influence  upon  the 
mind,  and  upon  the  social  life  of  the  Indian,  was  mild, 
humanizing  and  gentle.  The  fruits  of  their  religious 
sentiments,  among  themselves,  were  peace,  brotherly 
kindness,  charity,  hospitality,  integrity,  truth  and 
friendship  ;  and  towards  the  Great  Spirit,  reverence, 
thankfulness  and  faith.  More  wise  than  the  Greeks 
and  Romans  in  this  great  particular,  they  concentrated 
all  divinity  into  one  Supreme  Being ;  more  confiding 
in  the  people  than  the  priestly  class  of  Egypt,  their 
religious  teachers  brought  down  the  knowledge  of  the 
"  Unutterable  One  "  to  the  minds  of  all.  Eminently 

2I5 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

pure  and  spiritual,  and  internally  consistent  with  each 
other,  the  beliefs  and  the  religious  ceremonies  of  the 
Iroquois  are  worthy  of  a  respectful  consideration.  A 
people  in  the  wilderness,  shut  out  from  revelation, 
with  no  tablet  on  which  to  write  the  history  of  passing 
generations,  save  the  heart  of  man,  yet  possessed  of  the 
knowledge  of  one  Supreme  Being,  and  striving,  with 
all  the  ardor  of  devotion,  to  commune  with  him  in  the 
language  of  thankfulness  and  supplication,  is,  to  say  the 
least,  a  most  extraordinary  spectacle  ;  not  less  sublime 
in  itself  than  the  spectacle  of  the  persecuted  Puritan, 
on  the  confines  of  the  same  wilderness,  worshipping 
that  God  in  the  fulness  of  light  and  knowledge,  whom 
the  Indian,  however  limited  and  imperfect  his  con 
ceptions,  in  the  Great  Spirit  most  distinctly  discerned. 
Their  limited  knowledge  of  the  attributes  which 
pertained  to  a  Being  endued  with  creative  power, 
will  not  appear  so  surprising,  when  it  is  remembered 
to  be  the  highest  achievement  of  learning  and  piety, 
fully  to  comprehend  the  marvellous  perfections  of  the 
Deity.  When  the  complicated  structures  of  Egypt, 
Greece  and  Rome  are  brought  under  comparison  with 
the  simple  and  unpretending  scheme  of  theology  of 
the  children  of  the  forest,  there  is  found  reason  to 
marvel  at  the  superior  acuteness  and  profundity  of  the 
Indian  intellect.  It  may  be  safely  averred,  that  if 
the  sustaining  faith  and  the  simple  worship  of  the 
Iroquois  are  ever  fully  explored  and  carefully  eluci 
dated,  they  will  form  a  more  imperishable  monument 
to  the  Indian  than  is  afforded  in  the  purity  of  his 
virtues,  or  in  the  mournfulness  of  his  destiny. 


216 


GA-GEH-TA     YEN-CHE-NO-HOS-TA-TA  OR  KNEE  BAND, 


YEN-NIS-HO-QUA-HOS-TA  OR  WRIST  BAND, 


GA-GEH-TA     YEN-NIS-HA-HOS-TA  OR  ARM  BAND, 


Chapter   III 

The  New  Religion  —  Ga-ne-o-di'-yo,  the  Instructor— Pretended 
Revelation  —  Sose-ha'-wa,  his  Successor  —  Speech  of  Da-aV-ga- 
dose  —  Speech  of  Sose-ha'-wa  —  Doctrines  of  the  New  Religion 

ABOUT  the  year  eighteen  hundred,  a  new 
religious  teacher  arose  among  the  Iroquois, 
who  professed  to  have  received  a  revelation 
from  the  Great  Spirit,  with  a  commission  to  preach  to 
them  the  doctrines  with  which  he  had  been  intrusted. 
This  revelation  was  received  under  circumstances  so 
remarkable,  and  the  precepts  which  he  sought  to  incul 
cate  contained  within  themselves  such  evidences  of 
wisdom  and  beneficence,  that  he  was  universally  re 
ceived  among  them,  not  only  as  a  wise  and  good 
man,  but  as  one  commissioned  from  Hd-wen-ne'-yu  to 
become  their  religious  instructor.  The  new  religion, 
as  it  has  since  been  called,  not  only  embodied  all  the 
precepts  of  the  ancient  faith,  and  recognized  the 
ancient  mode  of  worship,  giving  to  it  anew  the  sanc 
tion  of  the  Great  Spirit,  but  it  also  comprehended 
such  new  doctrines  as  came  in,  very  aptly,  to  lengthen 
out  and  enlarge  the  primitive  system,  without  impair 
ing  the  structure  itself.  Charges  of  imposture  and 
deception  were  at  first  preferred  against  him,  but  dis 
belief  of  his  divine  mission  gradually  subsided,  until, 
at  the  time  of  his  death,  the  whole  unchristianized 
portion  of  the  Iroquois  had  become  firm  believers  in 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

the    new    religion,    which,    to    the    present    day,    has 
continued  to  be  the  prevailing  faith. (GG) 

The  singular  personage  who  was  destined  to  obtain 
such  a  spiritual  sway  over  the  descendants  of  the  an 
cient  Iroquois,  was  Ga-ne-o-di-yo^  or  "  Handsome 
Lake,"  a  Seneca  sachem  of  the  highest  class.  He 
was  born  at  the  Indian  village  of  Ga-no-wau-ges3  near 
Avon,  about  the  year  17.35,  an<^  died  at  Onondaga  in 
1815,  where  he  happened  to  be  on  one  of  his  pastoral 
visits.  By  birth  he  was  a  Seneca,  of  the  Turtle  tribe, 
and  a  half-brother  of  the  celebrated  Cornplanter, 
through  a  common  father.  The  best  part  of  his  life 
was  spent  in  idleness  and  dissipation,  during  which, 
although  a  sachem  and  ruler  among  the  Senecas  for 
many  years,  and  through  the  most  perilous  period  of 
their  history,  he  acquired  no  particular  reputation. 
Reforming  late  in  life,  in  his  future  career  he  showed 
himself  to  be  possessed  of  superior  talents,  and  to  be 
animated  by  a  sincere  and  ardent  desire  for  the  welfare 
of  his  race.  He  appears  to  have  adopted  the  idea  of 
a  revelation  from  Heaven,  to  give  authority  and  sanc 
tion  to  his  projected  reformation.  At  this  period, 
and  for  a  century  preceding,  the  prevailing  intem 
perance  of  the  Iroquois  had  been  the  fruitful  source 
of  those  domestic  disorders  which,  in  connection  with 
their  political  disasters,  seemed  then  to  threaten  the 
speedy  extinction  of  the  race.  A  temperance  refor 
mation,  universal  and  radical,  was  the  principal  and 
the  ultimate  object  of  the  mission  which  he  assumed, 
and  the  one  upon  which  he  chiefly  employed  his  influ 
ence  and  his  eloquence,  through  the  residue  of  his 
life.  Knowing  that  argument  and  persuasion  were 

218 


GA-NE-O-Dl'-TO,    THE    INSTRUCTOR 

feeble  weapons  in  a  contest  with  this  mighty  foe, 
Handsome  Lake  had  the  sagacity  to  address  himself 
to  the  religious  sentiments  and  the  superstitious  fears 
of  the  people.  To  secure  a  more  ready  reception  of 
his  admonitions,  he  clothed  them  with  the  divine  sanc 
tion  ;  to  strengthen  their  moral  principles,  he  enforced 
anew  the  precepts  of  the  ancient  faith ;  and  to  insure 
obedience  to  his  teachings,  he  held  over  the  wicked 
the  terrors  of  eternal  punishment.  Travelling  from 
village  to  village,  among  the  several  nations  of  the 
League,  with  the  exception  of  the  christianized  Onei- 
das,  and  continuing  his  visits  from  year  to  year,  this 
self-appointed  apostle  to  the  Indians  preached  the  new 
doctrine  with  remarkable  effect.  Numbers,  it  is  said, 
abandoned  their  dissolute  habits,  and  became  sober 
and  moral  men  ;  discord  and  contention  gave  place  to 
harmony  and  order,  and  vagrancy  and  sloth  to  am 
bition  and  industry.  What  peculiar  motives  induced 
him,  when  past  the  meridian  of  life,  to  change  the 
whole  tenor  of  his  past  career,  and  embark  in  this 
philanthropic  enterprise  for  the  social  and  moral  im 
provement  of  the  Iroquois,  it  may  be  difficult  to  ascer 
tain.  The  origination  of  this  project  has,  at  times, 
been  ascribed  to  Cornplanter,  as  a  means  to  increase 
his  own  influence  ;  but  this  is  not  only  improbable, 
but  is  expressly  denied.  The  motives  by  which 
Handsome  Lake  claimed  to  be  actuated  were  entirely 
of  a  religious  and  benevolent  character,  and  in  pursu 
ance  of  the  injunctions  of  his  spiritual  guides. 

At  the  time  of  his  supernatural  visitation,  about  the 
year  1800,  Handsome  Lake  resided  at  De-o-no-sa- 
dd-ga,  the  village  of  Cornplanter,  on  the  Allegany 

219 


LEAGUE    OF    THE 

river,  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  As  he  explained 
the  matter  to  his  brethren,  having  lain  ill  for  a  long 
period,  he  had  surrendered  all  hope  of  recovery,  and 
resigned  himself  to  death.  When  in  the  hourly  ex 
pectation  of  departure,  three  spiritual  beings,  in  the 
forms  of  men,  sent  by  the  Great  Spirit,  appeared  be 
fore  him.  Each  bore  in  his  hand  a  shrub,  bearing 
different  kinds  of  berries,  which,  having  given  him  to 
eat,  he  was,  by  their  miraculous  power,  immediately 
restored  to  health.  After  revealing  to  him  the  will 
of  the  Great  Spirit,  upon  a  great  variety  of  subjects, 
and  particularly  in  relation  to  the  prevailing  intemper 
ance,  and  having  commissioned  him  to  promulgate 
these  doctrines  among  the  Iroquois,  they  permitted 
him  to  visit,  under  their  guidance,  the  realm  of  the 
Evil-minded,  and  to  behold  with  his  mortal  eyes  the 
punishments  inflicted  upon  the  wicked,  that  he  might 
warn  his  brethren  of  their  impending  destiny.  Like 
Ulysses  and  ^neas,  he  was  also  favored  with  a  glance 
at  Elysium,  and  the  felicities  of  the  heavenly  residence 
of  the  virtuous.  With  his  mind  thus  stored  with  di 
vine  precepts,  and  with  his  zeal  enkindled  by  the  dig 
nity  of  his  mission,  Ga-ne-o-di-yo  at  once  commenced 
his  labors.1 

After   his    death,   Sose-ha-wd   (Johnson)   of  Tona- 

1  The  Iroquois  are  under  the  impression  that  Handsome  Lake  received 
a  license  from  Washington  to  preach.  There  is  no  doubt  that  he  applied 
to  the  government  during  the  presidency  of  Jefferson  for  some  recognition 
of  his  mission  ;  but  the  paper  which  they  still  call  the  license,  now  in  the 
possession  of  Blacksmith,  at  Tonawanda,  is  simply  a  letter  from  General 
Dearborn,  dated  in  1802,  commending  his  teachings.  (6")  Sose-ha'-^wd 
(Johnson)  fixes  the  period  of  this  revelation  in  June,  1800.  This  vener 
able  man  has  preached  the  doctrine  upwards  of  thirty  years. 

220 


SQSE-HA'-WA 

wanda  was  appointed  his  successor,  the  first  and  only 
person  ever  "  raised  up "  by  the  Iroquois,  and  in 
vested  with  the  office  of  supreme  Religious  Instructor. 
A  sincere  believer  in  the  verity  of  Gd-ne-o-di'-yo  s  mis 
sion,  and  an  eminently  pure  and  virtuous  man,  Sose- 
ha-wd  has  devoted  himself  with  zeal  and  fidelity  to 
the  duties  of  his  office,  as  the  spiritual  guide  and 
teacher  of  the  Iroquois.  He  is  a  grandson  of  Hand 
some  Lake,  and  a  nephew  of  Red  Jacket,  and  was 
born  at  the  Indian  village  of  Gd-no-wau'-ges,  near 
Avon,  about  the  year  1774,  and  still  resides  at  Tona- 
wanda  in  the  county  of  Genesee.(32) 

At  the  Mourning  and  Religious  councils  of  the 
League,  which  are  still  held,  at  intervals  of  a  few 
years,  among  the  scattered  descendants  of  the  children 
of  the  Long  House,  it  has  long  been  customary  to  set 
apart  portions  of  two  or  three  days  to  listen  to  a  dis 
course  from  Sose-hd-wa  upon  the  new  religion.  On 
these  occasions,  he  explains  minutely  the  circumstances 
attending  the  supernatural  visitation  of  Handsome 
Lake,  and  delivers  the  instructions,  word  for  word, 
which  he  had  been  accustomed  to  give  during  his  own 
ministration.  Handsome  Lake  professed  to  repeat 
the  messages  which  were  given  to  him  from  time  to 
time  by  his  celestial  visitants,  with  whom  he  pretended 
to  be  in  frequent  communication,  and  whom  he  ad 
dressed  as  his  spiritual  guardians,  thus  enforcing  his 
precepts  as  the  direct  commands  of  the  Great  Spirit. 

It  is  singular  that  the  credulity,  not  only  of  the 
people,  but  of  their  most  intelligent  chiefs  should  have 
been  sufficiently  great  to  give  credence  to  these  super 
natural  pretensions ;  but  yet  it  is  in  itself  no  greater 


221 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

than  that  indicated  by  their  belief  in  witchcraft,  or  in 
the  omens  of  dreams.  The  influence  of  the  new  re 
ligion  has  been  extremely  salutary  and  preservative, 
without  the  restraints  of  which,  the  fears  of  Ga-ne-o- 
di-yo  might  have  been  realized  ere  this,  in  the  rapid 
decline,  if  not  extinction  of  the  race.  Their  down 
ward  tendencies  were  arrested,  and  their  constant  di 
minution  of  numbers  was  changed  to  a  gradual 
increase.  Its  beneficent  effects  upon  the  people 
doubtless  contributed  more  to  its  final  establishment 
than  any  other  cause. 

At  their  councils  and  religious  festivals,  it  was  cus 
tomary  for  the  chiefs  and  keepers  of  the  faith  to 
express  their  confidence  in  the  new  religion,  and 
to  exhort  others  to  strengthen  their  belief.  The 
late  Abraham  La  Fort,  De-dt-ga-dose^}  an  educated 
Onondaga  sachem,  thus  expressed  himself  upon  this 
subject  at  a  Mourning  council  of  the  Iroquois,  held 
at  Tonawanda  as  late  as  October,  1 847  :  — 

"  Let  us  observe  the  operations  of  nature.  The 
year  is  divided  into  seasons,  and  every  season  has  its 
fruits.  The  birds  of  the  air,  though  clothed  in  the 
same  dress  of  feathers,  are  divided  into  many  classes  ; 
and  one  class  is  never  seen  to  associate  or  intermingle 
with  any  but  its  own  kind.  So  with  the  beasts  of  the 
field  and  woods  ;  each  and  every  class  and  species  have 
their  own  separate  rules  by  which  they  seem  to  be 
governed,  and  by  which  their  actions  are  regulated. 
These  distinctions  of  classes  and  colors  the  Great 
Spirit  has  seen  fit  to  make.  But  the  rule  does  not 
stop  here ;  it  is  universal.  It  embraces  man  also. 
The  human  race  was  created  and  divided  into  different 

222 


SPEECH    OF    D  E-A  T'-G  A-D  O  S  E 

classes,  which  were  placed  separate  from  each  other, 
having  different  customs,  manners,  laws,  and  religions. 
To  the  Indian,  it  seems  that  no  more  religion  had  origi 
nally  been  given  than  was  to  be  found  in  the  operations 
of  nature.,  which  taught  him  that  there  was  a  Supreme 
Being,  all  powerful  and  all  wise  ;  and  on  this  account, 
as  well  as  on  account  of  his  great  goodness,  they 
learned  to  love  and  reverence  him.  But  in  these  latter 
times,  when  the  restless  and  ambitious  spirit  of  the 
white-skinned  race  had  crossed  the  boundary  line,  and 
made  inroads  upon  the  manners,  customs  and  primitive 
religion  of  the  Indian,  the  Great  Spirit  determined  to, 
and  through  his  servant  Gd-ne-o-di-yo  did  reveal  his 
will  to  the  Indian.  The  substance  of  that  will  was  no 
more  than  to  confirm  their  ancient  belief  that  they 
were  entitled  to  a  different  religion,  a  religion  adapted 
to  their  customs,  manners,  and  ways  of  thinking." 

As  the  discourse  delivered  by  Sose-hd-wa^  from 
time  to  time,  contains  a  very  full  exposition  of  their 
ancient  beliefs,  and  mode  of  worship,  together  with  the 
recent  views  introduced  by  Handsome  Lake,  mingled 
up  in  one  collection,  presenting,  probably,  a  better 
idea  of  their  ethical  and  religious  system  than  could 
be  conveyed  in  any  other  manner,  it  is  given  entire, 
and  will  explain  itself.2 

1  Furnished  to  the  author  by  Ha-sa-no-an'-dd  (Ely  S.  Parker),   from 
notes  taken  at  the  time. 

2  The  subjoined  translation  was  prepared  by  Ha-sa-no-an'-da  (Ely  S. 
Parker),  from  copious  notes  taken  by  him  at  the  time  of  its  last  delivery 
in  October,   1848,  at  a  general  Mourning  council  of  the  Iroquois,  held  at 
Tonawanda.      It  is  proper  to  add,  that  he  has  listened  to  its  delivery  on 
several   occasions,  and  is  perfectly  familiar  with  the  subject.      With  some 
slight  alterations,  the  language  is  his  own.      This  discourse,  as  it  is  given, 
was  made  on  the  forenoons  of  the  4th,  5th,  and  6th  days  of  October,  1 848. 

223 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO9UO1S 

>sj 

"  The  Mohawks,  the  Onondagas,  the  Senecas,  and 
our  children  (the  Oneidas,  Cayugas  and  Tuscaroras) 
have  assembled  here  to-day  to  listen  to  the  repetition 
of  the  will  of  the  Great  Spirit,  as  communicated  to  us 
from  heaven  through  his  servant,  Ga-ne-o-di-yo. 

"  Chiefs,  warriors,  women  and  children:  — -  We  give 
you  a  cordial  welcome.  The  sun  has  advanced  far  in 
his  path,  and  I  am  warned  that  my  time  to  instruct 
you  is  limited  to  the  meridian  sun.  I  must  therefore 
hasten  to  perform  my  duty.  Turn  your  minds  to  the 
Great  Spirit,  and  listen  with  strict  attention.  Think 
seriously  upon  what  I  am  about  to  speak.  Reflect 
upon  it  well,  that  it  may  benefit  you  and  your  children. 
I  thank  the  Great  Spirit  that  he  has  spared  the  lives 
of  so  many  of  you  to  be  present  on  this  occasion.  I 
return  thanks  to  him  that  my  life  is  yet  spared.  The 
Great  Spirit  looked  down  from  heaven  upon  the  suffer 
ings  and  the  wanderings  of  his  red  children.  He  saw 
that  they  had  greatly  decreased  and  degenerated.  He 
saw  the  ravages  of  the  fire-water  among  them.  He 
therefore  raised  up  for  them  a  sacred  instructor,  who 
having  lived  and  travelled  among  them  for  sixteen 
years,  was  called  from  his  labors  to  enjoy  eternal  feli 
city  with  the  Great  Spirit  in  heaven.  Be  patient 
while  I  speak.  I  cannot  at  all  times  arrange  and  pre 
pare  my  thoughts  with  the  same  precision.  But  I 
will  relate  what  my  memory  bears. 

"  It  was  in  the  month  of  O-nike'-ya  (June),  that 
Handsome  Lake  was  yet  sick.  He  had  been  ill  four 
years.  He  was  accustomed  to  tell  us  that  he  had 
resigned  himself  to  the  will  of  the  Great  Spirit.  '  I 
nightly  returned  my  thanks  to  the  Great  Spirit/  said 

224 


SPEECH    OF    SOSE-HA'-WA 

he,  c  as  my  eyes  were  gladdened  at  evening  by  the 
sight  of  the  stars  of  heaven.  I  viewed  the  ornamented 
heavens  at  evening,  through  the  opening  in  the  roof 
of  my  lodge,(124)  with  grateful  feelings  to  my  Creator. 
I  had  no  assurance  that  I  should  at  the  next  evening 
contemplate  his  works.  For  this  reason  my  acknowl 
edgments  to  him  were  more  fervent  and  sincere. 
When  night  was  gone,  and  the  sun  again  shed  his 
light  upon  the  earth,  I  saw,  and  acknowledged  in  the 
return  of  day  his  continued  goodness  to  me,  and  to  all 
mankind.  At  length  I  began  to  have  an  inward  con 
viction  that  my  end  was  near.  I  resolved  once  more 
to  exchange  friendly  words  with  my  people,  and  I 
sent  my  daughter  to  summon  my  brothers  Gy-ant- 
w<2-&z  (Cornplanter),  and  Ta-wan-ne-ars  (Blacksnake).' 
She  hastened  to  do  his  bidding,  but  before  she  re 
turned,  he  had  fallen  into  insensibility  and  -apparent 
death.  Ta-wan-ne-ars,  upon  returning  to  the  lodge, 
hastened  to  his  brother's  couch,  and  discovered  that 
portions  of  his  body  were  yet  warm.  This  happened 
at  early  day,  before  the  morning  dew  had  dried. 
When  the  sun  had  advanced  half-way  to  the  meridian, 
his  heart  began  to  beat,  and  he  opened  his  eyes.  Ta- 
wan-ne-ars  asked  him  if  he  was  in  his  right  mind  ;  but 
he  answered  not.  At  meridian  he  again  opened  his 
eyes,  and  the  same  question  was  repeated.  He  then 
answered  and  said,  '  A  man  spoke  from  without,  and 
asked  that  some  one  might  come  forth.  I  looked, 
and  saw  some  men  standing  without.  I  arose,  and  as 
I  attempted  to  step  over  the  threshold  of  my  door,  I 
stumbled,  and  should  have  fallen  had  they  not  caught 
me.  They  were  three  holy  men  who  looked  alike, 

VOL.  I.— 15  225 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

and  were  dressed  alike.  The  paint  they  wore  seemed 
but  one  day  old.  Each  held  in  his  hand  a  shrub 
bearing  different  kinds  of  fruit.  One  of  them  address 
ing  me  said,  "  We  have  come  to  comfort  and  relieve 
you.  Take  of  these  berries  and  eat ;  they  will  restore 
you  to  health.  We  have  been  witnesses  of  your 
lengthened  illness.  We  have  seen  with  what  resigna 
tion  you  have  given  yourself  up  to  the  Great  Spirit. 
We  have  heard  your  daily  return  of  thanks.  He  has 
heard  them  all.  His  ear  has  ever  been  open  to  hear. 
You  were  thankful  for  the  return  of  night,  when  you 
could  contemplate  the  beauties  of  heaven.  You  were 
accustomed  to  look  upon  the  moon,  as  she  coursed  in 
her  nightly  paths.  When  there  were  no  hopes  to  you 
that  you  would  again  behold  these  things,  you  will 
ingly  resigned  yourself  to  the  mind  of  the  Great  Spirit. 
This  was  right.  Since  the  Great  Spirit  made  the 
earth  and  put  man  upon  it,  we  have  been  his  constant 
servants  to  guard  and  protect  his  works.  There  are 
four  of  us.  Some  other  time  you  will  be  permitted  to 
see  the  other.  The  Great  Spirit  is  pleased  to  know 
your  patient  resignation  to  his  will.  As  a  reward  for 
your  devotion,  he  has  cured  your  sickness.  Tell  your 
people  to  assemble  to-morrow,  and  at  noon  go  in  and 
speak  to  them."  After  they  had  further  revealed  their 
intentions  concerning  him  they  departed. 

"  At  the  time  appointed  Handsome  Lake  appeared 
at  the  council,  and  thus  addressed  the  people  upon 
the  revelations  which  had  been  made  to  him  :  '  I  have 
a  message  to  deliver  to  you.  The  servants  of  the 
Great  Spirit  have  told  me  that  I  should  yet  live  upon 
the  earth  to  become  an  instructor  to  my  people. 

226 


THE    NEW    RELIGION 

Since  the  creation  of  man,  the  Great  Spirit  has  often 
raised  up  men  to  teach  his  children  what  they  should 
do  to  please  him  ;  but  they  have  been  unfaithful  to 
their  trust.  I  hope  I  shall  profit  by  their  example. 
Your  Creator  has  seen  that  you  have  transgressed 
greatly  against  his  laws.  He  made  man  pure  and 
good.  He  did  not  intend  that  he  should  sin.  You 
commit  a  great  sin  in  taking  the  fire-water.  The 
Great  Spirit  says  that  you  must  abandon  this  enticing 
habit.  Your  ancestors  have  brought  great  misery  and 
suffering  upon  you.  They  first  took  the  fire-water  of 
the  white  man,  and  entailed  upon  you  its  consequences. 
None  of  them  have  gone  to  heaven.  The  fire-water 
does  not  belong  to  you.  It  was  made  for  the  white 
man  beyond  the  great  waters.  For  the  white  man  it 
is  a  medicine ;  but  they  too  have  violated  the  will  of 
their  Maker.  The  Great  Spirit  says  that  drunkenness 
is  a  great  crime,  and  he  forbids  you  to  indulge  in  this 
evil  habit.  His  command  is  to  the  old  and  young. 
The  abandonment  of  its  use  will  relieve  much  of  your 
sufferings,  and  greatly  increase  the  comfort  and  happi 
ness  of  your  children.  The  Great  Spirit  is  grieved 
that  so  much  crime  and  wickedness  should  defile  the 
earth.  There  are  many  evils  which  he  never  intended 
should  exist  among  his  red  children.  The  Great 
Spirit  has,  for  many  wise  reasons,  withheld  from  man 
the  number  of  his  days  ;  but  he  has  not  left  him  with 
out  a  guide,  for  he  has  pointed  out  to  him  the  path  in 
which  he  may  safely  tread  the  journey  of  life. 

" c  When  the  Great  Spirit  made  man,  he  also 
made  woman.  He  instituted  marriage,  and  enjoined 
upon  them  to  love  each  other,  and  be  faithful.  It  is 

227 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

pleasing,to  him  to  see  men  and  women  obey  his  will. 
Your  Creator  abhors  a  deceiver  and  a  hypocrite. 
By  obeying  his  commands  you  will  die  an  easy  and  a 
happy  death.  When  the  Great  Spirit  instituted  mar 
riage,  he  ordained  to  bless  those  who  were  faithful 
with  children.  Some  women  are  unfruitful,  and 
others  become  so  by  misfortune.  Such  have  great 
opportunities  to  do  much  good.  There  are  many 
orphans,  and  many  poor  children  whom  they  can 
adopt  as  their  own.  If  you  tie  up  the  clothes  of  an 
orphan  child,  the  Great  Spirit  will  notice  it,  and  reward 
you  for  it.  Should  an  orphan  ever  cross  your  path 
be  kind  to  him,  and  treat  him  with  tenderness,  for 
this  is  right.  Parents  must  constantly  teach  their 
children  morality,  and  a  reverence  for  their  Creator. 
Parents  must  also  guard  their  children  against  improper 
marriages.  They,  having  much  experience,  should  se 
lect  a  suitable  match  for  their  child.  When  the  parents 
of  both  parties  have  agreed,  then  bring  the  young  pair 
together,  and  let  them  know  what  good  their  parents 
have  designed  for  them.  If  at  any  time  they  so  far 
disagree  that  they  cannot  possibly  live  contented  and 
happy  with  each  other,  they  may  separate  in  mu 
tual  good  feeling  ;  and  in  this  there  is  no  wrong.(100) 
When  a  child  is  born  to  a  husband  and  wife,  they 
must  give  great  thanks  to  the  Great  Spirit,  for  it  is 
his  gift,  and  an  evidence  of  his  kindness.  Let  par 
ents  instruct  their  children  in  their  duty  to  the 
Great  Spirit,  to  their  parents,  and  to  their  fellow-men. 
Children  should  obey  their  parents  and  guardians, 
and  submit  to  them  in  all  things.  Disobedient  chil 
dren  occasion  great  pain  and  misery.  They  wound 

228 


THE    NEW    RELIGION 

their  parents'  feelings,  and  often  drive  them  to  desper 
ation,  causing  them  great  distress,  and  final  admission 
into  the  place  of  Evil  Spirits.  The  marriage  obliga 
tions  should  generate  good  to  all  who  have  assumed 
them.  Let  the  married  be  faithful  to  each  other,  that 
when  they  die  it  may  be  in  peace.  Children  should 
never  permit  their  parents  to  suffer  in  their  old  age. 
Be  kind  to  them,  and  support  them.  The  Great 
Spirit  requires  all  children  to  love,  revere  and  obey 
their  parents.  To  do  this  is  highly  pleasing  to 
him.  The  happiness  of  parents  is  greatly  increased 
by  the  affection  and  the  attentions  of  their  children. 
To  abandon  a  wife  or  children  is  a  great  wrong,  and 
produces  many  evils.  It  is  wrong  for  a  father  or 
mother-in-law  to  vex  a  son  or  daughter-in-law  ;  but 
they  should  use  them  as  if  they  were  their  own 
children.  It  often  happens  that  parents  hold  angry 
disputes  over  their  infant  child.  This  is  also  a  great 
sin.  The  infant  hears  and  comprehends  the  angry 
words  of  its  parents.  It  feels  bad  and  lonely.  It 
can  see  for  itself  no  happiness  in  prospect.  It  con 
cludes  to  return  to  its  Maker.  It  wants  a  happy 
home,  and  dies.  The  parents  then  weep  because 
their  child  has  left  them.  You  must  put  this  evil 
practice  from  among  you,  if  you  would  live  happy. 

" {  The  Great  Spirit,  when  he  made  the  earth,  never 
intended  that  it  should  be  made  merchandise;  but  he 
willed  that  all  his  creatures  should  enjoy  it  equally. 
Your  chiefs  have  violated  and  betrayed  your  trust 
by  selling  lands.  Nothing  is  now  left  of  our  once 
large  possessions,  save  a  few  small  reservations. 
Chiefs  and  aged  men — you,  as  men,  have  no  lands 

229 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

to  sell.  You  occupy  and  possess  a  tract  in  trust  for 
your  children.  You  should  hold  that  trust  sacred, 
lest  your  children  are  driven  from  their  homes  by 
your  unsafe  conduct.  Whoever  sells  lands  offends 
the  Great  Spirit,  and  must  expect  a  great  punishment 
after  death.'  " 

Sose-hd-wa  here  suspended  the  narration  of  the 
discourse  of  Handsome  Lake,  and  thus  addressed  the 
council  :  — 

"  Chiefs,  keepers  of  the  faith,  warriors,  women 
and  children: — You  all  know  that  our  religion 
teaches,  that  the  early  day  is  dedicated  to  the  Great 
Spirit,  and  that  the  late  day  is  granted  to  the  spirits 
of  the  dead.  It  is  now  meridian,  and  I  must  close. 
Preserve  in  your  minds  that  which  has  been  said. 
Accept  my  thanks  for  your  kind  and  patient  atten 
tion.  It  is  meet  that  I  should  also  return  my  thanks 
to  the  Great  Spirit,  that  he  has  assisted  me  thus  far, 
in  my  feeble  frame,  to  instruct  you.  We  ask  you  all 
to  come  up  again  to-morrow,  at  early  day,  to  hear 
what  further  may  be  said.  I  have  done." 

The  next  morning,  after  the  council  had  been 
opened  in  the  usual  manner,  Sose-hd-wa  thus  con 
tinued  :  — 

"  Relatives,  uncover  now  your  heads  and  listen  :  — 
The  day  has  thus  far  advanced,  and  again  we  are 
gathered  around  the  council-fire.  I  see  around  me 
the  several  nations  of  the  Long  House  ;  this  gives  me 
great  joy.  I  see  also  seated  around  me  my  counsel 
lors  (keepers  of  the  faith),  who  have  been  regularly 
appointed,  as  is  the  custom  of  our  religion.  Greet 
ings  have  been  exchanged  with  each  other.  Thanks 

230 


THE    NEW    RELIGION 

have  been  returned  to  Ga-ni-o-di-yo.  Thanks  also 
have  been  returned  to  our  Creator,  by  the  council 
now  assembled.  At  this  moment  the  Great  Spirit 
is  looking  upon  this  assembly.  He  hears  our  words, 
he  knows  our  thoughts,  and  is  always  pleased  to  see 
us  gathered  together  for  good.  The  sun  is  now  high, 
and  soon  it  will  reach  the  middle  heavens.  I  must 
therefore  make  haste.  Listen  attentively,  and  consider 
well  what  you  shall  hear.  1  return  thanks  to  our 
Creator,  that  he  has  spared  your  lives  through  the 
dangers  of  darkness.  I  salute  and  return  my  thanks 
to  the  four  Celestial  beings,  who  have  communicated 
what  I  am  about  to  say  to  you.  I  return  thanks  to 
my  grandfather  (Handsome  Lake),  from  whom  you 
first  heard  what  I  am  about  to  speak.  We  all  feel 
his  loss.  We  miss  him  at  our  councils.  I  now 
occupy  his  place  before  you  ;  but  I  am  conscious  that 
I  have  not  the  power  which  he  possessed. 

"  Counsellors,  warriors,  mothers  and  children :  — 
Listen  to  good  instruction.  Consider  it  well.  Lay 
it  up  in  your  minds,  and  forget  it  not.  Our  Creator, 
when  he  made  us,  designed  that  we  should  live  by 
hunting.  It  sometimes  happens  that  a  man  goes 
out  for  the  hunt,  leaving  his  wife  with  her  friends. 
After  a  long  absence  he  returns,  and  finds  that  his 
wife  has  taken  another  husband.  The  Great  Spirit 
says  that  this  is  a  great  sin,  and  must  be  put  from 
among  us. 

"The  four  Messengers  further  said,  that  it  was 
wrong  for  a  mother  to  punish  a  child  with  a  rod. 
It  is  not  right  to  punish  much,  and  our  Creator 
never  intended  that  children  should  be  punished 

231 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I  R O ^U O  I S 

with  a  whip,  or  be  used  with  any  violence.  In 
punishing  a  refractory  child,  water  only  is  necessary, 
and  it  is  sufficient/120*  Plunge  them  under.  This 
is  not  wrong.  Whenever  a  child  promises  to  do 
better,  the  punishment  must  cease.  It  is  wrong  to 
continue  it  after  promises  of  amendment  are  made. 
Thus  they  said. 

"It  is  right  and  proper  always  to  look  upon  the 
dead.  Let  your  face  be  brought,  near  to  theirs,  and 
then  address  them.  Let  the  dead  know  that  their 
absence  is  regretted  by  their  friends,  and  that  they 
grieve  for  their  death.  Let  the  dead  know,  too, 
how  their  surviving  friends  intend  to  live.  Let 
them  know  whether  they  will  so  conduct  themselves, 
that  they  will  meet  them  again  in  the  future  world. 
The  dead  will  hear  and  remember.  Thus  they 
said. 

"  Continue  to  listen  while  I  proceed  to  relate  what 
further  they  said:  —  Our  Creator  made  the  earth. 
Upon  it  he  placed  man,  and  gave  him  certain  rules 
of  conduct.  It  pleased  him  also  to  give  them  many 
kinds  of  amusements.  He  also  ordered  that  the 
earth  should  produce  all  that  is  good  for  man.  So 
long  as  the  earth  remains,  it  will  not  cease  to  yield. 
Upon  the  surface  of  the  ground  berries  of  various 
kinds  are  produced.  It  is  the  will  of  the  -Great 
Spirit,  that  when  they  ripen,  we  should  return  our 
thanks  to  him,  and  have  a  public  rejoicing  for  the 
continuance  of  these  blessings.  He  made  every 
thing  which  we  live  upon,  and  requires  us  to  be 
thankful  at  all  times  for  the  continuance  of  his 
favors.  When  Our  Life  (corn,  &c.)  has  again  ap- 


THE    NEW    RELIGION 

peared,  it  is  the  will  of  the  Great  Ruler  that  we  as 
semble  for  a  general  thanksgiving.  It  is  his  will 
also  that  the  children  be  brought  and  made  to  par 
ticipate  in  the  Feather  dance.  Your  feast  must  con 
sist  of  the  new  production.  It  is  proper  at  these 
times,  should  any  present  not  have  their  names  pub 
lished,  or  if  any  changes  have  been  made,  to  announce 
them  then.  The  festival  must  continue,  four  days. 
Thus  they  said.  Upon  the  first  day  must  be  per 
formed  the  Feather  dance.  This  ceremony  must 
take  place  in  the  early  day,  and  cease  at  the  middle 
day.  In  the  same  manner,  upon  the  second  day,  is 
to  be  performed  the  Thanksgiving  dance.  On  the 
third,  the  Thanksgiving  concert,  Ah-do-weh^  is  to 
be  introduced.  The  fourth  day  is  set  apart  for 
the  Peach-stone  game.(98  All  these  ceremonies,  in 
stituted  by  our  Creator,  must  be  commenced  at  the 
early  day,  and  cease  at  the  middle  day.  At  all  these 
times,  we  are  required  to  return  thanks  to  our  Grand 
father  He -no  and  his  assistants.  To  them  is  assigned 
the  duty  of  watching  over  the  earth,  and  all  it 
produces  for  our  good.  The  great  Feather  and 
Thanksgiving  dances  are  the  appropriate  ceremonies 
of  thanksgiving  to  the  Ruler  and  Maker  of  all  things. 
The  Thanksgiving  concert  belongs  appropriately  to 
our  Grandfathers.  In  it,  we  return  thanks  to  them. 
During  the  performance  of  this  ceremony,  we  are 
required  also  to  give  them  the  smoke  of  tobacco. 
Again,  we  must  at  this  time  return  thanks  to  our 
mother  the  earth,  for  she  is  our  relative.  We  must 
also  return  thanks  to  Our  Life  and  its  Sisters.  All 
these  things  are  required  to  be  done  by  the  light  of 

233 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

the  sun.  It  must  not  be  protracted  until  the  sun  has 
hid  his  face,  and  darkness  surrounds  all  things. 

"  Continue  to  listen  :  —  We  have  a  change  of  sea 
sons.  We  have  a  season  of  cold.  This  is  the  hunting 
season.  It  is  also  one  in  which  the  people  can  amuse 
themselves.  Upon  the  fifth  day  of  the  new  moon 
Nis-go-wuk'-na  (about  Feb.  ist),(95)  we  are  required  to 
commence  the  annual  jubilee  of  thanksgiving  to  our 
Creator.  At  this  festival  all  can  give  evidence  of  their 
devotion  to  the  will  of  the  Great  Spirit,  by  participat 
ing  in  all  its  ceremonies. 

"  Continue  to  listen  :  —  The  four  Messengers  of  the 
Great  Spirit  have  always  watched  over  us,  and  have 
ever  seen  what  was  transpiring  among  men.  At  one 
time,  Handsome  Lake  was  translated  by  them  to  the 
regions  above.  He  looked  down  upon  the  earth  and 
saw  a  great  assembly.  Out  of  it  came  a  man.  His 
garments  were  torn,  tattered  and  filthy.  His  whole 
appearance  indicated  great  misery  and  poverty.  They 
asked  him  how  this  spectacle  appeared  to  him.  He 
replied  that  it  was  hard  to  look  upon.  They  then 
told  him  that  the  man  he  saw  was  a  drunkard.  That 
he  had  taken  the  fire-water,  and  it  had  reduced  him 
to  poverty."53'  Again  he  looked,  and  saw  a  woman 
seated  upon  the  ground.  She  was  constantly  engaged 
in  gathering  up  and  secreting  about  her  person  her 
worldly  effects.  They  said,  the  woman  you  see  is  in 
hospitable.  She  is  too  selfish  to  spare  anything,  and 
will  never  leave  her  worldly  goods.  She  can  never 
pass  from  earth  to  heaven.  Tell  this  to  your  people. 
Again  he  looked,  and  saw  a  man  carrying  in  each  hand 
large  pieces  of  meat.  He  went  about  the  assembly 

234 


THE    NEW    RELIGION 

giving  to  each  a  piece.  This  man,  they  said,  is  blessed, 
for  he  is  hospitable  and  kind.  He  looked  again,  and 
saw  streams  of  blood.  They  said,  Thus  will  the  earth 
be,  if  the  fire-water  is  not  put  from  among  you. 
Brother  will  kill  brother,  and  friend  friend.  Again 
they  told  him  to  look  towards  the  east.  He  obeyed, 
and  as  far  as  his  vision  reached,  he  saw  the  increasing 
smoke  of  numberless  distilleries  arising,  and  shutting 
out  the  light  of  the  sun.  It  was  a  horrible  spectacle  to 
witness.  They  told  him  that  here  was  manufactured 
the  fire-water.  Again  he  looked,  and  saw  a  costly 
house,  made  and  furnished  by  the  pale-faces.  It  was 
a  house  of  confinement,  where  were  fetters,  ropes  and 
whips.  They  said  that  those  who  persisted  in  the  use 
of  the  fire-water  would  fall  into  this.  Our  Creator 
commands  us  to  put  this  destructive  vice  far  from  us. 
Again  he  looked,  and  saw  various  assemblages.  Some 
of  them  were  unwilling  to  listen  to  instruction.  They 
were  riotous,  and  took  great  pride  in  drinking  the 
strong  waters.  He  observed  another  group  who  were 
half  inclined  to  hear,  but  the  temptations  to  vice  which 
surrounded  them  allured  them  back,  and  they  also 
revelled  in  the  fumes  of  the  fire-water.  He  saw  an 
other  assemblage  which  had  met  to  hear  instructions. 
This  they  said  was  pleasing  to  the  Great  Spirit.  He 
loves  those  who  will  listen  and  obey.  It  has  grieved 
him  that  his  children  are  now  divided  by  separate  in 
terests,  and  are  pursuing  so  many  paths.  It  pleases 
him  to  see  his  people  live  together  in  harmony  and 
quiet.  The  fire-water  creates  many  dissensions  and 
divisions  among  us.  They  said  that  the  use  of  it 
would  cause  many  to  die  unnatural  deaths ;  many  wilJ 

235 


LEAGUE    O'F    THE    IRO^UOIS 

be  exposed  to  cold,  and  freeze ;  many  will  be  burned, 
and  others  will  be  drowned  while  under  the  influence 
of  the  fire-water. 

"Friends  and  Relatives:  —  All  these  things  have 
often  happened.  How  many  of  our  people  have  been 
frozen  to  death ;  how  many  have  been  burned  to 
death  ;  how  many  have  been  drowned  while  under  the 
influence  of  the  strong  waters.  The  punishments  of 
those  who  use  the  fire-water  commence  while  they  are 
yet  on  the  earth.  Many  are  now  thrown  into  houses 
of  confinement  by  the  pale  faces.  I  repeat  to  you,  the 
Ruler  of  us  all  requires  us  to  unite  and  put  this  evil 
from  among  us.  Some  say  that  the  use  of  the  fire 
water  is  not  wrong,  and  that  it  is  food.  Let  those  who 
do  not  believe  it  wrong,  make  this  experiment.(64) 
Let  all  who  use  the  fire-water  assemble  and  organize 
into  a  council ;  and  those  who  do  not,  into  another 
near  them.  A  great  difference  will  then  be  discovered. 
The  council  of  drunkards  will  end  in  a  riot  and  tumult, 
while  the  other  will  have  harmony  and  quiet.  It  is 
hard  to  think  of  the  great  prevalence  of  this  evil  among 
us.  Reform,  and  put  it  from  among  you.  Many  re 
solve  to  use  the  fire-water  until  near  death,  when  they 
will  repent.  If  they  do  this,  nothing  can  save  them 
from  destruction,  for  them  medicine  can  have  no  power. 
Thus  they  said. 

"  All  men  were  made  equal  by  the  Great  Spirit ;  but 
he  has  given  to  them  a  variety  of  gifts.  To  some  a 
pretty  face,  to  others  an  ugly  one ;  to  some  a  comely 
form,  to  others  a  deformed  figure.  Some  are  fortunate 
in  collecting  around  them  worldly  goods.  But  you  are 
all  entitled  to  the  same  privileges,  and  therefore  must 


THE    NEW    RELIGION 

put  pride  from  among  you.  You  are  not  your  own 
makers,  nor  the  builders  of  your  own  fortunes.  All 
things  are  the  gift  of  the  Great  Spirit,  and  to  him  must 
be  returned  thanks  for  their  bestowal.  He  alone  must 
be  acknowledged  as  the  giver.  It  has  pleased  him  to 
make  differences  among  men  ;  but  it  is  wrong  for  one 
man  to  exalt  himself  above  another.  Love  each  other, 
for  you  are  all  brothers  and  sisters  of  the  same  great 
family.  The  Great  Spirit  enjoins  upon  all,  to  observe 
hospitality  and  kindness,  especially  to  the  needy  and 
the  helpless  ;  for  this  is  pleasing  to  him.  If  a  stranger 
wanders  about  your  abode,  speak  to  him  with  kind 
words ;  be  hospitable  towards  him,  welcome  him  to 
your  home,  and  forget  not  always  to  mention  the  Great 
Spirit.  In  the  morning,  give  thanks  to  the  Great 
Spirit  for  the  return  of  day,  and  the  light  of  the  sun  ; 
at  night  renew  your  thanks  to  him,  that  his  ruling 
power  has  preserved  you  from  harm  during  the  day, 
and  that  night  has  again  come,  in  which  you  may  rest 
your  wearied  bodies. 

"The  four  Messengers  said  further  to  Handsome 
Lake  :  --Tell  your  people,  and  particularly  the  keepers 
of  the  faith,  to  be  strong-minded,  and  adhere  to  the 
true  faith.  We  fear  the  Evil-minded  will  go  among 
them  with  temptations.  He  may  introduce  the  fiddle. 
He  may  bring  cards,  and  leave  them  among  you.(97) 
The  use  of  these  are  great  sins.  Let  the  people  be 
on  their  guard,  and  the  keepers  of  the  faith  be  watch 
ful  and  vigilant,  that  none  of  these  evils  may  find  their 
way  among  the  people.  Let  the  keepers  of  the  faith 
preserve  the  law  of  moral  conduct  in  all  its  purity. 
When  meetings  are  to  be  held  for  instruction,  and  the 

237 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRQ  QUO  IS 

people  are  preparing  to  go,  the  Evil-minded  is  then 
busy.  He  goes  from  one  to  another,  whispering  many 
temptations,  by  which  to  keep  them  away.  He  will 
even  follow  persons  into  the  door  of  the  council,  and 
induce  some,  at  that  time,  to  bend  their  steps  away. 
Many  resist  until  they  have  entered,  and  then  leave  it. 
This  habit,  once  indulged,  obtains  a  fast  hold,  and  the 
evil  propensity  increases  with  age.  This  is  a  great  sin, 
and  should  be  at  once  abandoned.  Thus  they  said. 

"  Speak  evil  of  no  one.  If  you  can  say  no  good 
of  a  person,  then  be  silent.  Let  not  your  tongues 
betray  you  into  evil.  Let  all  be  mindful  of  this  ;  for 
these  are  the  words  of  our  Creator.  Let  all  strive  to 
cultivate  friendship  with  those  who  surround  them. 
This  is  pleasing  to  the  Great  Spirit. 

"Counsellors,  warriors,  women  and  children: — I 
shall  now  rest.  I  thank  you  all  for  your  kind  and 
patient  attention.  I  thank  the  Great  Spirit,  that  he 
has  spared  the  lives  of  so  many  of  us  to  witness  this 
day.  I  request  you  all  to  come  up  again  to-morrow  at 
early  day.  Let  us  all  hope,  that,  until  we  meet  again, 
the  Creator  and  Ruler  of  us  all  may  be  kind  to  us, 
and  preserve  our  lives.  Na-ho' ." 

The  council,  on  the  following  day,  was  opened  with 
a  few  short  speeches,  from  some  of  the  chiefs  or 
keepers  of  the  faith,  returning  thanks  for  the  privileges 
of  the  occasion,  as  usual  at  councils  ;  after  which  Sose- 
ka'-wa,  resuming  his  discourse,  spoke  as  follows  :  — 

"  Friends  and  Relatives,  uncover  now  your  heads  :  — 
Continue  to  listen  to  my  rehearsal  of  the  sayings  com 
municated  to  Handsome  Lake  by  the  four  Messengers 
of  the  Great  Spirit.  We  have  met  again  around  the 

238 


THE    NEW    RELIGION 

council-fire.  We  have  followed  the  ancient  custom, 
and  greeted  each  other.  This  is  right,  and  highly 
pleasing  to  our  Maker.  He  now  looks  down  upon 
this  assembly.  He  sees  us  all.  He  is  informed  of  the 
cause  of  our  gathering,  and  it  is  pleasing  to  him.  Life 
is  uncertain.  While  we  live  let  us  love  each  other. 
Let  us  sympathize  always  with  the  suffering  and  needy. 
Let  us  also  always  rejoice  with  those  who  are  glad. 
This  is  now  the  third  day,  and  my  time  for  speaking 
to  you  is  drawing  to  a  close.  It  will  be  a  long  time 
before  we  meet  again.  Many  moons  and  seasons  will 
have  passed,  before  the  sacred  council-brand  shall  be 
again  uncovered.  Be  watchful,  therefore,  and  remem 
ber  faithfully  what  you  may  now  hear. 

"  In  discoursing  yesterday  upon  the  duties  of  the 
keepers  of  the  faith,  I  omitted  some  things  important. 
The  Great  Spirit  created  this  office.  He  designed  that 
its  duties  should  never  end.  There  are  some  who  are 
selected  and  set  apart  by  our  Maker,  to  perform  the 
duties  of  this  office.  It  is  therefore  their  duty  to  be 
faithful,  and  to  be  always  watching.  These  duties  they 
must  ever  perform  during  their  lives.  The  faithful, 
when  they  leave  this  earth,  will  have  a  pleasant  path 
to  travel  in.  The  same  office  exists  in  heaven,  the 
home  of  our  Creator.  They  will  take  the  same  place 
when  they  arrive  there.  There  are  dreadful  penalties 
awaiting  those  keepers  of  the  faith  who  resign  their 
office  without  a  cause.  Thus  they  said. 

"  It  was  the  original  intention  of  our  Maker,  that 
all  our  feasts  of  thanksgiving  should  be  seasoned  with 
the  flesh  of  wild  animals.  But  we  are  surrounded  by 
the  pale-faces,  and  in  a  short  time  the  woods  will  be 

239 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

all  removed.  Then  there  will  be  no  more  game  for 
the  Indian  to  use  in  his  feasts.  The  four  Messengers 
said,  in  consequence  of  this,  that  we  might  use  the 
flesh  of  domestic  animals.  This  will  not  be  wrong. 
The  pale-faces  are  pressing  you  upon  every  side.  You 
must  therefore  live  as  they  do.  How  far  you  can  do 
so  without  sin,  I  will  now  tell  you.  You  may  grow 
cattle,  and  build  yourselves  warm  and  comfortable 
dwelling-houses.  This  is  not  sin;  and  it  is  all  that 
you  can  safely  adopt  of  the  customs  of  the  pale-faces. 
You  cannot  live  as  they  do.  Thus  they  said. 

"  Continue  to  listen:  —  It  has  pleased  our  Creator 
to  set  apart  as  our  Life,  the  Three  Sisters.  For  this 
special  favor,  let  us  ever  be  thankful.  When  you  have 
gathered  in  your  harvest,  let  the  people  assemble,  and 
hold  a  general  thanksgiving  for  so  great  a  good.  In 
this  way  you  will  show  your  obedience  to  the  will  and 
pleasure  of  your  Creator.  Thus  they  said. 

"  Many  of  you  may  be  ignorant  of  the  Spirit  of 
Medicine.  It  watches  over  all  constantly,  and  assists 
the  needy  whenever  necessity  requires.  The  Great 
Spirit  designed  that  some  men  should  possess  the  gift 
of  skill  in  medicine.  But  he  is  pained  to  see  a  medi 
cine  man  making  exorbitant  charges  for  attending  the 
sick.  Our  Creator  made  for  us  tobacco.  This  plant 
must  always  be  used  in  administering  medicines. 
When  a  sick  person  recovers  his  health,  he  must 
return  his  thanks  to  the  Great  Spirit  by  means  of 
tobacco  ;  for  it  is  by  his  goodness  that  he  is  made  well. 
He  blesses  the  medicine  ;  and  the  medicine  man  must 
receive  as  his  reward  whatever  the  gratitude  of  the  re 
stored  may  tender.  This  is  right  and  proper.  There 

240 


THE    NEW    RELIGION 

are  many  who  are  unfortunate,  and  cannot  pay  for 
attendance.  It  is  sufficient  for  such  to  return  thanks 
to  the  medicine  man  upon  recovery.  The  remem 
brance  that  he  has  saved  the  life  of  a  relative,  will  be 
a  sufficient  reward/11 

"  Listen  further  to  what  the  Great  Spirit  has  been 
pleased  to  communicate  to  us:  —  He  has  made  us,  as 
a  race,  separate  and  distinct  from  the  pale-face.  It  is 
a  great  sin  to  intermarry,  and  intermingle  the  blood  of 
the  two  races.  Let  none  be  guilty  of  this  transgres- 


sion.<"> 


c< 


At  one  time  the  four  Messengers  said  to  Handsome 
Lake,  Lest  the  people  should  disbelieve  you,  and  not 
repent  and  forsake  their  evil  ways,  we  will  now  disclose 
to  you  the  House  of  Torment,  the  dwelling-place  of 
the  Evil-minded.  Handsome  Lake  was  particular  in 
describing  to  us  all  that  he  witnessed  ;  and  the  course 
which  departed  spirits  were  accustomed  to  take  on 
leaving  the  earth.  There  was  a  road  which  led  up 
wards.  At  a  certain  point  it  branched  ;  one  branch 
led  straight  forward  to  the  Home  of  the  Great  Spirit, 
and  the  other  turned  aside  to  the  House  of  Torment. 
At  the  place  where  the  roads  separated  were  stationed 
two  keepers,  one  representing  the  Good,  and  the  other 
the  Evil  Spirit.  When  a  person  reached  the  fork,  if 
wicked,  by  a  motion  from  the  Evil  keeper,  he  turned 
instinctively  upon  the  road  which  led  to  the  abode  of 
the  Evil-minded.  But  if  virtuous  and  good,  the  other 
keeper  directed  him  upon  the  straight  road.  The 
latter  was  not  much  travelled  ;  while  the  former  was 
so  frequently  trodden,  that  no  grass  could  grow  in  the 
pathway.  It  sometimes  happened  that  the  keepers 
VOL.  i.  — 16  241 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

had  great  difficulty  in  deciding  which  path  the  person 
should  take,  when  the  good  and  bad  actions  of  the 
individual  were  nearly  balanced.  Those  sent  to  the 
House  of  Torment  sometimes  remain  one  day  (which 
is  there  one  of  our  years).  Some  for  a  longer  period. 
After  they  have  atoned  for  their  sins,  they  pass  to 
heaven.  But  when  they  have  committed  either  of  the 
great  sins  (witchcraft,  murder,  and  infanticide),  they 
never  pass  to  heaven,  but  are  tormented  forever. 
Having  conducted  Handsome  Lake  to  this  place,  he 
saw  a  large  and  dark-colored  mansion  covered  with 
soot,  and  beside  it  stood  a  lesser  one.  One  of  the 
four  then  held  out  his  rod,  and  the  top  of  the  house 
moved  up,  until  they  could  look  down  upon  all  that 
was  within.  He  saw  many  rooms.  The  first  object (G3) 
which  met  his  eye,  was  a  haggard-looking  man  ;  his 
sunken  eyes  cast  upon  the  ground,  and  his  form 
half  consumed  by  the  torments  he  had  undergone. 
This  man  was  a  drunkard.  The  Evil-minded  then 
appeared,  and  called  him  by  name.  As  the  man 
obeyed  his  call,  he  dipped  from  a  caldron  a  quantity 
of  red-hot  liquid,  and  commanded  him  to  drink  it,  as 
it  was  an  article  he  loved.  The  man  did  as  he  was 
directed,  and  immediately  from  his  mouth  issued  a 
stream  of  blaze.  He  cried  in  vain  for  help.  The 
Tormentor  then  requested  him  to  sing  and  make  him 
self  merry,  as  was  his  wont  while  on  earth,  after  drink 
ing  the  fire-water.  Let  drunkards  take  warning  from 
this.  Others  were  then  summoned.  There  came 
before  him  two  persons,  who  appeared  to  be  husband 
and  wife.  He  told  them  to  exercise  the  privilege  they 
were  so  fond  of  while  on  the  earth.  They  immediately 

242 


THE    NEW    RELIGION 

commenced  a  quarrel  of  words.  They  raged  at  each 
other  with  such  violence,  that  their  tongues  and  eyes 
ran  out  so  far  they  could  neither  see  nor  speak.  This, 
said  they,  is  the  punishment  of  quarrelsome  and  dis 
puting  husbands  and  wives.  Let  such  also  take  warn 
ing,  and  live  together  in  peace  and  harmony.  Next 
he  called  up  a  woman  who  had  been  a  witch.  First 
he  plunged  her  into  a  caldron  of  boiling  liquid.  In 
her  cries  of  distress,  she  begged  the  Evil-minded  to 
give  her  some  cooler  place.  He  then  immersed 
her  in  one  containing  liquid  at  the  point  of  freezing. 
Her  cries  then  were,  that  she  was  too  cold.  This 
woman,  said  the  four  Messengers,  shall  always  be  tor 
mented  in  this  manner.  He  proceeded  to  mention 
the  punishment  which  awaits  all  those  who  cruelly  ill- 
treat  their  wives.  The  Evil-minded  next  called  up  a 
man  who  had  been  accustomed  to  beat  his  wife. 
Having  led  him  up  to  a  red-hot  statue  of  a  female,  he 
directed  him  to  do  that  which  he  was  fond  of  while  he 
was  upon  the  earth.  He  obeyed,  and  struck  the 
figure.  The  sparks  flew  in  every  direction,  and  by 
the  contact  his  arm  was  consumed.  Such  is  the  pun 
ishment,  they  said,  awaiting  those  who  ill-treat  their 
wives.  From  this  take  seasonable  warning.  He 
looked  again  and  saw  a  woman,  whose  arms  and  hands 
were  nothing  but  bones.  She  had  sold  fire-water  to 
the  Indians,  and  the  flesh  was  eaten  from  her  hands 
and  arms.  This,  they  said,  would  be  the  fate  of  rum- 
sellers.  Again  he  looked,  and  in  one  apartment 
he  saw  and  recognized  Ho-ne-ya-wus  (Farmer's 
Brother),  his  former  friend.  He  was  engaged  in  re 
moving  a  heap  of  sand,  grain  by  grain;  and  although 

243 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

he  labored  continually,  yet  the  heap  of  sand  was  not 
diminished.  This,  they  said,  was  the  punishment  of 
those  who  sold  land.  Adjacent  to  the  house  of  tor 
ment  was  afield  of  corn  filled  with  weeds.  He  saw 
women  in  the  act  of  cutting  them  down;  but  as  fast 
as  this  was  done,  they  grew  up  again.  This,  they  said, 
was  the  punishment  of  lazy  women.  It  would  be 
proper  and  right,  had  we  time,  to  tell  more  of  this 
place  of  torment.  But  my  time  is  limited,  and  I  must 
pass  to  other  things. 

cc  The  Creator  made  men  dependent  upon  each 
other.  He  made  them  sociable  beings ;  therefore, 
when  your  neighbor  visits  you,  set  food  before  him. 
If  it  be  your  next  door  neighbor,  you  must  give  him 
to  eat.  He  will  partake  and  thank  you. 

Again  they  said  :  -  -  You  must  not  steal.  Should 
you  want  for  anything  necessary,  you  have  only  to  tell 
your  wants,  and  they  will  be  supplied.  This  is  right. 
Let  none  ever  steal  anything.  Children  are  often 
tempted  to  take  things  home  which  do  not  belong 
to  them.  Let  parents  instruct  their  children  in  this 
rule. 

Many  of  our  people  live  to  a  very  old  age.(121) 
Your  Creator  says  that  your  deportment  towards  them 
must  be  that  of  reverence  and  affection.  They  have 
seen  and  felt  much  of  the  misery  and  pain  of  earth. 
Be  always  kind  to  them  when  old  and  helpless.  Wash 
their  hands  and  face,  and  nurse  them  with  care. 
This  is  the  will  of  the  Great  Spirit. 

"  It  has  been  the  custom  among  us  to  mourn  for 
the  dead  one  year.  This  custom  is  wrong.  As  it 
causes  the  death  of  many  children,  it  must  be  aban- 

244 


THE    NEW    RELIGION 

doned.  Ten  days  mourn  for  the  dead,  and  not  lon- 
ger.(102)  When  one  dies,  it  is  right  and  proper  to 
make  an  address  over  the  body,  telling  how  much  you 
loved  the  deceased.  Great  respect  for  the  dead  must 
be  observed  among  us. 

"At  another  time  the  four  Messengers  said  to 
Handsome  Lake,  they  would  now  show  him  the 
'  Destroyer  of  Villages'  (Washington1),  of  whom  you 
have  so  frequently  heard.  Upon  the  road  leading 
to  heaven  he  could  see  a  light,  far  away  in  the  dis 
tance,  moving  to  and  fro.  Its  brightness  far  exceeded 
the  brilliancy  of  the  noonday  sun.  They  told  him 
the  journey  was  as  follows  :  First,  they  came  to  a 
cold  spring,  which  was  a  resting-place.  From  this 
point  they  proceeded  into  pleasant  fairy  grounds, 
which  spread  away  in  every  direction.  Soon  they 
reached  heaven.  The  light  was  dazzling.  Berries 
of  every  description  grew  in  vast  abundance.  Their 
size  and  quality  were  such  that  a  single  berry  was 
more  than  sufficient  to  appease  the  appetite.  A  sweet 
fragrance  perfumed  the  air.  Fruits  of  every  kind  met 
the  eye.  The  inmates  of  this  celestial  abode  spent 
their  time  in  amusement  and  repose.  No  evil  could 
enter  there.  None  in  heaven  ever  transgress  again. 
Families  were  reunited,  and  dwelt  together  in  harmony. 
They  possessed  a  bodily  form,  the  senses,  and  the  re 
membrances  of  the  earthly  life.  But  no  white  man  ever 
entered  heaven.  Thus  they  said.  He  looked,  and 

1  Washington  was  named  by  the  Iroquois  Ha-no-da-ga'-ne-ars,  which 
signifies  the  Destroyer  of  Villages.  The  Presidents  have  ever  since  been 
called  by  this  name.  They  named  the  Governors  of  all  the  provinces  with 
which  they  had  intercourse,  and  afterwards  continued  the  names  to  their 
successors.  (69) 

245 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I  R  O      U  O  I  S 


saw  an  inclosure  upon  a  plain,  just  without  the  en 
trance  of  heaven.  Within  it  was  a  fort.  Here  he 
saw  the  'Destroyer  of  Villages/  walking  to  and  fro 
within  the  inclosure.  His  countenance  indicated  a 
great  and  a  good  man.  They  said  to  Handsome 
Lake  :  The  man  you  see  is  the  only  pale-face  who  ever 
left  the  earth.  He  was  kind  to  you,  when  on  the 
settlement  of  the  great  difficulty  between  the  Amer 
icans  and  the  Great  Crown  (Go-wek'-go-wa),  you  were 
abandoned  to  the  mercy  of  your  enemies.  The  Crown 
told  the  great  American,  that  as  for  his  allies,  the 
Indians,  he  might  kill  them  if  he  liked.  The  great 
American  judged  that  this  would  be  cruel  and  unjust. 
He  believed  they  were  made  by  the  Great  Spirit,  and 
were  entitled  to  the  enjoyment  of  life.  He  was  kind 
to  you,  and  extended  over  you  his  protection.  For 
this  reason,  he  has  been  allowed  to  leave  the  earth. 
But  he  is  never  permitted  to  go  into  the  presence  of 
the  Great  Spirit.  Although  alone,  he  is  perfectly 
happy.  All  faithful  Indians  pass  by  him  as  they  go 
to  heaven.  They  see  him,  and  recognize  him,  but 
pass  on  in  silence.  No  word  ever  passes  his  lips. 

"  Friends  and  Relatives  :  --  It  was  by  the  influence 
of  this  great  man,  that  we  were  spared  as  a  people,  and 
yet  live.  Had  he  not  granted  us  his  protection,  where 
would  we  have  been  ?  Perished,  all  perished. 

"  The  four  Messengers  further  said  to  Handsome 
Lake,  they  were  fearful  that,  unless  the  people  re 
pented  and  obeyed  his  commands,  the  patience  and 
forbearance  of  their  Creator  would  be  exhausted  ; 
that  he  w7ould  grow  angry  with  them,  and  cause  their 
increase  to  cease. 

246 


THE    NEW    RELIGION 

"  Our  Creator  made  light  and  darkness.  He  made 
the  sun  to  heat,  and  shine  over  the  world.  He  made 
the  moon,  also,  to  shine  by  night,  and  to  cool  the 
world,  if  the  sun  made  it  too  hot  by  day.  The  keeper 
of  the  clouds,  by  direction  of  the  Great  Spirit,  will 
then  cease  to  act.  The  keeper  of  the  springs  and 
running  brooks  will  cease  to  rule  them  for  the  good 
of  man.  The  sun  will  cease  to  fulfil  its  office.  Total 
darkness  will  then  cover  the  earth.  A  great  smoke 
will  rise,  and  spread  over  the  face  of  the  earth.  Then 
will  come  out  of  it  all  monsters,  and  poisonous  ani 
mals  created  by  the  Evil-minded  ;  and  they,  with  the 
wicked  upon  the  earth,  will  perish  together. 

"  But  before  this  dreadful  time  shall  come,  the 
Great  Spirit  will  take  home  to  himself  all  the  good 
and  faithful.  They  will  lay  themselves  down  to  sleep, 
and  from  this  sleep  of  death,  they  will  rise,  and  go 
home  to  their  Creator.  Thus  they  said. 

"  I  have  now  done.  I  close  thus,  that  you  may 
remember  and  understand  the  fate  which  awaits  the 
earth,  and  the  unfaithful  and  unbelieving.  Our  Crea 
tor  looks  down  upon  us.  The  four  Beings  from 
above  see  us.  They  witness  with  pleasure  this  assem 
blage,  and  rejoice  at  the  object  for  which  it  is  gathered. 
It  is  now  forty-eight  years  since  we  first  began  to 
listen  to  the  renewed  will  of  our  Creator.  I  have  been 
unable,  during  the  time  allotted  to  me,  to  rehearse  all 
the  sayings  of  Gd-ne-o-di-yo.  I  regret  very  much  that 
you  cannot  hear  them  all. 

"  Counsellors,  Warriors,  Women  and  Children  :  - 
I  have   done,     I    thank  you  all  for  your   attendance, 
and  for  your  kind  and  patient  attention.     May  the 

247 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

Great  Spirit,  who  rules  all  things,  watch  over  and 
protect  you  from  every  harm  and  danger,  while  you 
travel  the  journey  of  life.  May  the  Great  Spirit  bless 
you  all,  and  bestow  upon  you  life,  health,  peace  and 
prosperity  ;  and  may  you,  in  turn,  appreciate  his  great 
goodness.  Na-ho'" 


Chapter   IV 

National  Dances  —  Influence  of  the  Dance  —  Costume  —  War 
Dance—  Speeches  in  the  War  Dance  —  Great  Feather  Dance  — 
Trotting  Dance  —  Fish  Dance  —  Dance  for  the  Dead  —  Concerts 

SUFFICIENT   has    been  said  in  the  preceding 
pages  to  convey  an  impression  of  the  uses  of 
the    Dance   among    the    Iroquois.      It   remains 
to  notice  the  several  dances  themselves,  to  point  out 
some  of  the  characteristics  of  each,  and  also  to  exhibit 
more  fully  the  spirit  of  this  amusement,  and  its  power 
over  the  minds  of  the  people. 

With  the  Iroquois,  as  with  the  red  race  at  large, 
dancing  was  not  only  regarded  as  a  thanksgiving 
ceremonial,  in  itself  acceptable  to  the  Great  Spirit, 
but  they  were  taught  to  consider  it  a  divine  art,  de 
signed  by  Ha-wen-ne'-yu  for  their  pleasure,  as  well 
as  for  his  worship.  It  was  cherished  as  one  of  the 
most  suitable  modes  of  social  intercourse  between 
the  sexes,  but  more  especially  as  the  great  instru 
mentality  for  arousing  patriotic  excitement,  and  for 
keeping  alive  the  spirit  of  the  nation.  The  popular 
enthusiasm  broke  forth  in  this  form,  and  was  nour 
ished  and  stimulated  by  this  powerful  agency.  These 
dances  sprang,  as  it  were,  a  living  reflection  from  the 
Indian  mind.  With  their  wild  music  of  songs  and 
rattles,  their  diversities  of  step  and  attitude,  their 
graces  of  motion,  and  their  spirit-stirring  associations, 

249 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

they  contain  within  themselves  both  a  picture  and 
a  realization  of  Indian  life.  The  first  stir  of  feeling 
of  which  the  Indian  youth  was  conscious  was  en 
kindled  by  the  dance  ;  the  first  impulse  of  patriotism, 
the  earliest  dreams  of  ambition  were  awakened  by 
their  inspiring  influences.  In  their  patriotic,  religious 
and  social  dances,  into  which  classes  they  are  properly 
divisible,  resided  the  soul  of  Indian  life.  It  was  more 
in  the  nature  of  a  spell  upon  the  people  than  of  a 
rational  guiding  spirit.  It  bound  them  down  to 
trivial  things,  but  it  bound  them  together ;  it  stimu 
lated  them  to  deeds  of  frenzy,  but  it  fed  the  flame 
of  patriotism. 

The  Iroquois  had  thirty-two  distinct  dances,  out 
of  which  number  twenty-six  were  claimed  to  be 
wholly  of  their  own  invention.  Twenty-one  of 
these  are  still  in  use  among  the  present  Iroquois. 
To  each  a  separate  history  and  object  attached,  as 
well  as  a  different  degree  of  popular  favor.  Some 
were  costume  dances,  and  were  performed  by  a  small 
and  select  band  ;  some  were  designed  exclusively  for 
females,  others  for  warriors  alone  ;  but  the  greater 
part  of  them  were  open  to  all  of  both  sexes  who 
desired  to  participate.  Many  of  these  dances,  with 
out  doubt,  have  been  handed  down  among  the  Iro 
quois  for  centuries,  transmitted  from  generation  to 
generation,  until  their  origin  is  lost  even  to  tradition. 
Others  spread  throughout  the  whole  Indian  family, 
and  were  known  and  used  from  Maine  to  Oregon. 
Indian  amusements,  as  well  as  arts,  were  eminently 
diffusive,  as  Indian  life  was  much  the  same  from 
ocean  to  ocean.  They  are  better  described  by  their 

250 


INFLUENCE    OF    THE    DANCE 

effects  than  by  a  minute  examination  of  the  mode, 
manner  and  circumstances  of  each  in  detail.  It  is 
to  their  influence,  as  a  means  of  action,  that  they 
owe  their  chief  importance.  And  it  is  to  the  zeal 
and  enthusiasm  with  which  they  were  cherished  and 
performed,  that  attention  should  principally  be  di 
rected.  Their  overpowering  influence  in  arousing  the 
Indian  spirit,  and  in  excluding  all  thoughts  of  a  dif 
ferent  life,  and  their  resulting  effect  upon  the  formation 
of  Indian  character  cannot  be  too  highly  estimated. 

The  tenacity  with  which  the  Iroquois  have  always 
adhered  to  these  dances  furnishes  the  highest  evi 
dence  of  their  hold  upon  the  affections  of  the  people. 
From  the  earliest  days  of  the  Jesuit  missions,  the 
most  unremitted  efforts  of  the  missionaries  have  been 
put  forth  for  their  suppression.  Christian  parties 
were  organized  at  an  early  day  in  each  nation,  of 
such  as  were  willing  to  abandon  the  dance  and  their 
religious  festivals,  and  lead  a  different  life.  These 
parties,  down  to  the  present  time,  have  always  been 
largely  in  the  minority,  except  among  the  unexpa- 
triated  Oneidas,  who  are  now  entirely  denationalized, 
and,  perhaps,  the  Tuscaroras,  who  are  partially  so ; 
but  the  body  of  the  Senecas,  Onondagas  and  Cayugas, 
upon  their  several  reservations,  still  cling  to  their 
ancient  customs,  and  glory  in  the  dance  as  ardently 
as  did  their  forefathers.  When  it  loses  its  attractions, 
they  will  cease  to  be  Indians.1 

1  A  Mourning  council  of  the  Iroquois  was  held  at  Tonawanda,  in 
October,  1846,  to  raise  up  sachems.  There  were  about  six  hundred  Iro 
quois  in  attendance,  representing  all  of  the  Six  Nations.  On  the  second 
day  the  Great  Feather  Dance  was  performed  by  a  select  band  of  Onon- 
daga  and  Seneca  dancers.  The  author  then  first  had  occasion  to  realize 

25  < 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

The  Feather  dance  and  the  War  dance  were  the 
two  great  performances  of  the  Iroquois.  One  had 
a  religious,  and  the  other  a  patriotic  character.  Both 
were  costume  dances.  They  were  performed  by  a 
select  band,  ranging  from  fifteen  to  twenty-five,  who 
were  distinguished  for  their  powers  of  endurance, 
activity  and  spirit.  Besides  these,  there  were  four 
other  costume  dances.  In  the  residue,  the  performers, 
who  were  the  people  at  large,  appeared  in  their 
ordinary  apparel,  and  sometimes  participated  to  the 
number  of  two  or  three  hundred  at  one  time.  The 
Iroquois  costume  may  be  called  strictly  an  apparel 
for  the  dance.  This  was  the  chief  occasion  on  which 
the  warrior  was  desirous  to  appear  in  his  best  attire. 
Before  describing  these  dances,  it  will  be  proper  to 
notice  the  va'rious  articles  of  apparel  which  made  up 
the  full-dress  costume  of  the  Iroquois. 

One  of  the  most  prominent  articles  of  apparel  was 
the  Kilt,  Ga-ka-ah  (see  plate,  I.  184),  which  was  se 
cured  around  the  waist  by  a  belt,  and  descended  to 
the  knee.  In  ancient  times  this  was  made  of  deer 
skin.  It  was  fringed  and  embroidered  with  porcu 
pine  quill-work.  Some  of  these  kilts  would  excite 
admiration  by  the  exactness  of  their  finish  and  ad 
justment,  and  the  neatness  of  the  material.  In  mod 
ern  times  various  fabrics  have  been  substituted  for 
the  deer-skin,  although  the  latter  is  still  used. 

the  magical  influence  which  these  dances  have  upon  the  Indian.  It  was 
impossible  even  for  the  spectator  to  resist  the  general  enthusiasm.  It  was 
remarked  to  Da-at'-ga-dose  (Abraham  La  Fort),  an  educated  Onondaga 
sachem,  that  they  would  be  Indians  forever,  if  they  held  to  these  dances. 
He  replied,  that  he  knew  it,  and  for  that  reason  he  would  be  the  last  to 
give  them  up. 

252 


COSTUME 

The  porcupine  (Ga-hd-da)  is  covered  with  a  species 
of  quill  perfectly  round,  without  down  or  feather,  and 
terminating  in  a  sharp  point.  The  small  quills  are 
from  one  to  four  inches  in  length,  and  are  white  with 
the  exception  of  the  tip  ends  or  about  one-fifth  of  the 
quills,  which  are  of  a  dark  brown  color,  and  give  to 
the  animal  its  dark  appearance.  After  being  picked 
and  seasoned  they  are  colored  red,  blue  and  yellow 
by  artificial  dyes,  and  then  used  in  connection  with 
the  white  ones.  For  heavy  border  work  the  quills 
are  moistened  and  flattened  down,  and  in  that  form 
are  used,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  plate  (I.  44)  ;  but  for 
vine  or  figure  work,  a  thread  is  stitched  through  the 
deer-skin  and  around  the  quill,  and  drawn  down  so  as 
to  compress  it.  This  process  is  repeated  at  intervals, 
the  quill  being  bent  between  the  stitches.  No  pat 
terns  are  used  to  work  from,  the  eye  and  the  taste 
being  the  principal  guides.  In  combining  colors 
much  taste  is  displayed. 

Upon  the  head-dress,  Gus-td-weh  (see  plate,  I. 
254),  the  most  conspicuous  part  of  the  costume,  much 
attention  was  bestowed.  The  frame  consisted  of  a 
band  of  splint,  adjusted  around  the  head,  with  in 
some  instances  a  cross-band  arching  over  the  top, 
from  side  to  side.  A  cap  of  net-work,  or  other 
construction,  was  then  made  to  enclose  the  frame. 
Around  the  splint,  in  later  times,  a  silver  band  was 
fastened,  which  completed  the  lower  part.  From  the 
top  a  cluster  of  white  feathers  depended.  Besides 
this,  a  single  feather  of  the  largest  size  was  set  in  the 
crown  of  the  head-dress,  inclining  backwards  from  the 
head.  It  was  secured  in  a  small  tube,  which  was 

253 


LEAGUE    OF    THE 


I RO  9  UOIS 

Xj 


fastened  to  the  cross-splint,  and  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  allow  the  feather  to  revolve  in  the  tube.  This 
feather,  which  was  usually  the  plume  of  the  eagle,  is 
the  characteristic  of  the  Iroquois  head-dress. 


Gus-to'-weh,  or  Head  Dress. 

Next  was  the  Leggin,  Gise'-ba  (see  plate,  I.  256), 
which  was  fastened  above  the  knee,  and  descended  upon 
the  moccason.  It  was  also  made  originally  of  deer-skin, 
and  ornamented  with  quill-work  upon  the  bottom  and 
side,  the  embroidered  edge  being  worn  in  front.  In 
later  times,  red  broadcloth,  embroidered  with  bead-work, 
as  represented  in  the  plate,  has  been  substituted  for 
deer-skin  in  most  cases.  Much  ingenuity  and  taste 
were  displayed  in  the  designs,  and  in  the  execution  of 
the  work  upon  this  article  of  apparel.  The  warrior 

might  well  be  proud  of  this  part  of  his  costume. 

254 


GOS-TO-WEH  OR  HEAD  DRESS 


GA-DE-US-HA  OR  NECK  LACE 


COSTUME 

The  Moccason,  Ah-ta-qu'd-d -weh  (see  plate,  I.  35), 
was  also  made  of  deer-skin.  In  the  modern  moc- 
cason,  represented  in  the  plate,  the  front  part  is  worked 
with  porcupine  quills  after  the  ancient  fashion,  while 
the  part  which  falls  down  upon  the  sides  is  embroidered 
with  bead-work  according  to  the  present  taste. 

Not  the  least  important  article  was  the  belt,  Ga- 
geti-ta  (see  plate,  I.  101),  which  was  prized  as 
highly  as  any  part  of  the  costume.  The  one  repre 
sented  in  the  plate  is  of  Indian  manufacture.  These 
belts  were  braided  by  hand,  the  beads  being  inter 
woven  in  the  process  of  braiding/11  Belts  of  deer 
skin  were  also  worn.  These  belts  were  worn  over 
the  left  shoulder  and  around  the  waist. 

Arm  Bands,  Knee  Bands,  and  Wrist  Bands,  made 
of  various  articles  and  ornamented  in  divers  ways, 


Knee  Rattle  of  Deers1  Hoofs. 

were  likewise  a  part  of  the  costume.  Sometimes  they 
were  made  of  deer-skin,  sometimes  of  white  dog-skin, 
and  in  later  times  of  red  and  blue  velvet,  embroidered 
with  bead-work,  as  represented  in  the  plate  (1.  216). 

In   addition   to   the   knee-bands,    Knee    Rattles  of 
deers'  hoofs,  as  shown  in  the  figure,  and  in   modern 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

times,  of  strips  of  metal,  or  of  bells,  made  a  neces 
sary  part  of  the  costume.  Personal  ornaments  of 
various  kinds,  together  with  the  war-club,  the  toma 
hawk,  and  the  scalping-knife,  completed  the  attire. 

The  war-club  used  in  the  dance,  was  usually  a  light 
article,  of  which  the  following  is  a  representation  :  — 


,  or  War-  Club. 


The  various  articles  of  apparel  which  now  make  up 
the  costume  of  the  Iroquois,  are  precisely  the  same 
that  they  were  at  the  epoch  of  the  discovery.  No 
change  has  been  made  in  the  articles  themselves,  al 
though  there  have  been  changes  in  the  materials  of 
which  they  were  made.  The  deer-skin,  in  later  days, 
has  been  laid  aside  for  the  broadcloth,  and  the  porcu 
pine  quill  for  the  bead.  By  making  a  resubstitution 
of  material,  the  original  costume  would  be  recovered 
in  full.(114) 

In  preparing  for  the  dance,  all  the  articles  above 
described  were  not  necessarily  used  by  each  individual. 
Those  strictly  needful  were  the  head-dress,  the  belt 
and  kilt,  to  which  each  wearer  added  such  ornaments 
and  rattles  as  he  was  disposed.  Usually  they  were 
nude  down  to  the  waist,  and  also  below  the  knees,  to 
give  greater  freedom  to  their  limbs.  A  great  diversity 
could  be  seen  in  their  costumes  when  brought  together 
in  the  dance,  in  consequence  of  the  different  fabrics  of 

256 


GISE-HA  OR  MALE  LEGGIN, 


COSTUME 

which  they  were  composed,  and  the  variety  in  their 
personal  ornaments,  notwithstanding  every  article  of 
apparel  was  of  the  same  pattern.  Specimens  of  full 
Iroquois  costumes,  both  male  and  female,  are  given 
in  the  engravings  which  are  introduced  as  frontis 
pieces/1^  These,  and  the  several  plates  which  are 
given  to  illustrate  the  male  costume  in  detail,  will  sav« 
the  necessity  of  any  further  description. 


Ga-no-jo'-Oy  or  Indian  Drum. 

I  foot. 

The  two  dances  mentioned  before  this  digression 
were  the  highest  in  the  popular  favor.  One  was  of 
original  invention,  the  other  imported;  one  was  of 
a  strictly  religious  character,  and  the  other  of  a  patri 
otic  ;  but  both  were  equally  effective  to  arouse  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  people.  All  things  considered, 
however,  the  last  of  the  two,  the  War  dance,  Wa- 
sa-seh,  was  the  favorite.  It  was  the  mode  of  en 
listment  for  a  perilous  expedition,  the  dance  which 
preceded  the  departure  of  the  band,  and  with  which 

VOL.  i.—  17  257 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

they  celebrated  their  return.  It  was  the  dance  at 
the  ceremony  of  raising  up  sachems,  at  the  adoption 
of  a  captive,  at  the  entertainment  of  a  guest,  the 
first  dance  taught  to  the  young.  It  was  not  of  Iro- 
quois  origin,  but  was  adopted  from  the  Sioux,  as  its 
name  imports,  reaching  back  through  them  to  a  re 
mote  antiquity.1  The  characteristic  feature  of  this 
dance  is  to  be  found  in  the  speeches  which  were 
made  by  those  surrounding  the  band  of  dancers  be 
tween  each  tune,  or  at  each  break  in  the  dance. 
From  this  source  the  people  derived  as  much  enter 
tainment  as  they  did  excitement  from  the  perform 
ance  itself.  It  was  the  only  dance  in  which  speeches 
and  replies  were  appropriate,  or  ever  introduced  ; 
and  in  this  particular  it  was  a  novelty,  leading 
oftentimes  to  the  highest  amusement.  By  these 
speeches,  which  both  relieved  the  performers  and 
diverted  the  people,  the  dance  was  lengthened  out 
to  two  and  even  three  hours,  before  the  spirits  of 
the  company  were  expended. 

The  War  dance  was  usually  performed  in  the  evening. 
It  was  only  brought  out  on  prominent  occasions,  or  at 
domestic  councils  of  unusual  interest.  Fifteen  made 
a  full  company,  but  oftentimes  twenty-five  and  even 
thirty  participated.  After  the  business  of  the  day  was 
disposed  of,  and  the  dusk  of  evening  had  crept  in, 

1  The  name  of  the  Sioux  in  the  Seneca  dialect  is  Wa-sa'-seh-o-no.  By 
contraction  and  usage,  the  word  Wa-sa'-seh  is  now  used  for  the  Sioux 
dance,  the  name  by  which  the  \Var  dance  has  always  been  known  among 
the  Iroquois.  This  dance  has  been  ascribed  by  some  to  the  Shawnees, 
and  called  Sa-iva-no'-o-no,  or  the  Shawnee  dance,  this  being  the  Seneca 
name  of  the  Shawnees.  One  of  the  Iroquois  names  of  this  dance  is 
Ne-jaf  ,•  but  Wa-sa'-seh  is  the  customary  name. 

258  ' 


WAR    DANCE 

preparations  began  for  the  dance.  The  people  gathered 
within  the  council-house,  usually  in  increased  numbers, 
because  of  this  expected  entertainment,  and  arranging 
themselves  in  favorable  positions,  they  quietly  awaited 
the  approach  of  the  dancers.  The  arrangements  were 
made,  including  the  selection  of  the  number,  the  ap 
pointment  of  the  leader,  and  of  the  singers  of  the 
war-songs,  by  the  keepers  of  the  faith.  In  an  adjacent 
lodge,  the  band  assembled  to  array  themselves  in  their 
costumes,  and  to  paint  and  decorate  their  persons  for 
the  occasion.  The  war-whoop  ever  and  anon  broke 
in  upon  the  stillness  of  the  evening,  indicating  to  the 
listening  and  expectant  throng  within  the  council-house, 
that  their  preparations  were  progressing  to  a  com 
pletion.  A  keeper  of  the  faith,  in  the  mean  time, 
occupied  the  attention  of  the  people  with  a  brief  speech 
upon  the  nature  and  objects  of  this  dance.  Presently, 
a  nearer  war-whoop  ringing  through  the  air,  announced 
that  the  band  were  approaching.  Preceded  by  their 
leader,  and  marching  in  file  to  the  beat  of  the  drum, 
they  drew  near  to  the  council-house.  As  they  came 
up,  the  crowd  gave  way,  the  leader  crossed  the  thresh 
old,  followed  quickly  by  his  feathered  band,  and 
immediately  opened  the  dance.  In  an  instant  they 
grouped  themselves  within  a  circular  area,  standing 
thick  together,  the  singers  commenced  the  war-song, 
the  drums  beat  time,  and  the  dancers  made  the  floor 
resound  with  their  stirring  feet.  After  a  moment  the 
song  ceased,  and  with  it  the  dance ;  the  band  walking 
around  a  common  centre  to  the  beat  of  the  drum  at 
half  time.  Another  song  soon  commenced,  the  drums 
quickened  their  time,  and  the  dance  was  resumed.  In 

259 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

the  middle  of  the  song  there  was  a  change  in  the  music, 
accompanied  with  a  slight  cessation  of  the  dance,  after 
which  it  became  more  animated  than  before,  until  the 
song  ended,  and  the  band  again  walked  to  the  beat  of 
the  drum.  Each  tune  or  war-song  lasted  about  two 
minutes,  and  the  interval  between  them  was  about  as 
long.  These  songs  were  usually  recited  by  four  singers, 
using  two  drums  of  the  kind  represented  in  the  figure, 
to  mark  time,  and  as  an  accompaniment.  The  drums 
beat  time  about  twice  in  a  second,  the  voices  of  the 
singers  keeping  pace,  thus  making  a  rapid  and  strongly 
accented  species  of  music.1 

It  would  be  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  describe 
the  step,  except  generally.  With  the  whites,  the 
dancing  is  entirely  upon  the  toe  of  the  foot,  with  rapid 
changes  of  position,  and  but  slight  changes  of  attitude. 
But  with  the  Iroquois,  it  was  chiefly  upon  the  heel, 
with  slow  changes  of  position,  and  rapid  changes  of 
attitude.  The  heel  is  raised  and  brought  down  with 
great  quickness  and  force,  by  muscular  strength,  to 
keep  time  with  the  beat  of  the  drum,  to  make  a  re 
sounding  noise  by  the  concussion,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  shake  the  knee-rattles,  which  contributed 
materially  to  the  "pomp  and  circumstance"  of  the 
dance.  In  the  War  dance,  the  attitudes  were  those  of 

1  These  war  songs  are  in  a  dead  language,  or,  at  all  events,  the  Iroquois 
are  unable  to  interpret  them.  They  are  in  regular  verses,  or  measured  sen 
tences,  and  were  learned  by  them  with  the  dance  originally.  Charlevoix  has 
furnished  a  translation  of  some  of  these  songs  as  follows  :  "I  am  brave 
and  intrepid.  I  do  not  fear  death,  nor  any  kind  of  torture.  Those  who 
fear  them  are  cowards.  They  are  less  than  women.  Life  is  nothing  to 
those  who  have  courage.  May  my  enemies  be  confounded  with  despair 
and  rage.'"  These  songs  were  sung  by  captives  at  the  torture  ;  and 
doubtless  those  used  in  the  War  dance  are  of  the  same  general  character. 

260 


WAR   DANCE 

the  violent  passions,  and  consequently  were  not  grace 
ful.  At  the  same  instant  of  time,  in  a  group  of  dancers, 
one  might  be  seen  in  the  attitude  of  attack,  another 
of  defence;  one  in  the  act  of  drawing  the  bow,  another 
of  striking  with  the  war-club  ;  some  in  the  act  of 
throwing  the  tomahawk,  some  of  listening,  or  of  watch 
ing  an  opportunity,  and  others  of  striking  the  foe. 
These  violent  motions  of  the  body,  while  they,  perhaps, 
increased  the  spirit  and  animation  of  the  dance,  led  to 
disagreeable  distortions  of  the  countenance,  as  well  as 
to  uncouth  attitudes.  But,  at  the  same  time,  the 
striking  costumes  of  the  dancers,  their  erect  forms  at 
certain  stages  of  the  figure,  their  suppleness  and  ac 
tivity,  the  wild  music,  the  rattle  of  the  dance,  together 
with  the  excitable  and  excited  throng  around  them, 
made  up  a  scene  of  no  common  interest. 

In  this  dance,  the  war-whoop  and  the  response  always 
preceded  each  song.  It  was  given  by  the  leader,  and 
answered  by  the  band.  A  description  of  this  terrific 
outbreak  of  human  voices  is  scarcely  possible.  It  was 
a  prolonged  sound  upon  a  high  note,  with  a  decadence 
near  the  end,  followed  by  an  abrupt  and  explosive 
conclusion,  in  which  the  voice  was  raised  again  to  the 
original  pitch.  The  whole  band  responded  in  a  united 
scream  upon  the  same  key  with  which  the  leader  con 
cluded,  and  at  the  same  instant.1 

An  attempt  is  here  made  to  rep 
resent  this  wild  cry.  It  is  given 
by  the  Indian  with  wide-open 
mouth.  His  voice  slides  down  the 
descending  notes,  when  he  pauses 
an  instant  to  take  a  new  inspiration, 

all  which  is  to  be  expended  in  the  sudden  and  far-reaching  yell  with  which 

261 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

In  this  celebrated  dance,  therefore,  which  has  doubt 
less  been  used  for  centuries,  and  been  performed 
throughout  the  whole  area  of  the  American  republic, 
we  find  this  simple  succession  of  acts :  the  war-whoop 
and  responses,  the  simultaneous  commencement  of  the 
war-song  and  the  dance,  the  slight  cessation  at  the 
middle  of  the  tune,  with  a  change  in  the  music,  the  re 
newal  of  the  dance  with  redoubled  animation,  and  the 
final  conclusion  of  the  war-song  in  perhaps  less  than 
two  minutes  from  its  commencement ;  and  lastly,  the 
walk  at  the  beat  of  the  drum  around  a  central  point 
for  about  two  minutes,  until  the  war-whoop  again 
sounded,  and  another  war-song  was  introduced.  This 
round  was  continued  until  the  spirit  of  the  dancers 
began  to  flag,  and  the  desires  of  the  people  had  been 
reasonably  gratified.  Without  any  speeches  between 
the  tunes  to  relieve  the  band,  it  usually  lasted  about 
an  hour;  but  with  speeches,  it  often  continued  for 
three  hours  with  unabated  animation. 

Any  one  present  was  at  liberty  to  make  a  speech 
at  any  stage  of  the  dance.  His  desire  was  manifested 
by  a  rap.  At  the  sound  the  dance  ceased,  or,  if 
finished,  and  the  band  were  walking,  they  were  re 
quired  to  stop,  and  all  present,  as  well  as  the  music, 
to  be  silent.  The  only  condition  affixed  to  the  right 
of  making  a  speech,  was  that  of  bestowing  a  present 
at  its  close  upon  the  dancers,  or  upon  the  one  to 
whom  it  was  addressed.  After  the  speech  was  con 
cluded,  and  the  present  delivered,  the  war-whoop  and 
responses  were  again  sounded,  the  drums  beat,  the 

the  piece  concludes.     On  this  last  note  the  whole  band  join  in  chorus,  using 
the  syllables    "  ah  um,11    connected  in  one,  or  something  like  it. 

262 


SPEECHES 

song  and  the  dance  commenced,  and  were  ended 
as  before.  Then  followed  another  speech,  and  still 
others,  alternating  with  the  songs,  or  suspending 
the  dance  at  the  moment  of  its  highest  animation, 
at  the  pleasure  of  the  speaker.  In  this  manner  the 
War  dance  was  continued  until  the  spirit  of  enjoyment 
began  to  subside,  when  the  final  war-whoop  put  an  end 
to  the  dance,  and  the  band  retired. 

These  speeches  were  often  pleasantries  between 
individuals,  or  strictures  upon  each  other's  foibles, 
or  earnest  exhortations,  or  perchance  patriotic  ebul 
litions  of  feeling,  according  to  the  fancy  of  the 
person  and  of  the  moment.  Some  of  them  were 
received  with  rounds  of  applause,  some  with  jeers, 
and  others  with  seriousness  and  deference.  They 
usually  lasted  but  two  or  three  minutes.  The  Indian 
has  a  keen  appreciation  of  wit,  and  is  fond  of  both 
jest  and.  repartee,  as  well  as  of  ridicule. 

To  convey  a  fuller  impression  of  the  character  of 
these  speeches,  and  of  the  nature  of  the  dance  itself, 
a  few  specimens  will  be  introduced.  These  speeches 
are  short  and  rather  unmeaning,  when  separated 
from  the  occasion,  and  the  connection  in  which  they 
were  called  forth.  Those  most  interesting  would 
require  an  explanation  of  collateral  circumstances  to 
be  understood,  and  they  are  therefore  excluded. 
Those  to  be  given  are  not  particularly  interesting ; 
but  they  explain  themselves,  and  will  answer  the  pur 
pose  for  which  they  are  introduced  as  fully  as  if  they 
sparkled  with  wit. 

After  the  band  came  in  and  opened  the  War  dance, 
several  songs  were  performed  before  any  one  was 

263 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROgJJOIS 

disposed  to  interrupt  them.  All  eyes  were  turned 
upon  the  several  costumes  of  the  band,  upon  the 
spirit  and  activity  of  individuals  in  the  dance,  and 
the  animation  and  enthusiasm  of  the  party.  Round 
after  round  followed,  until  the  spirit  of  the  company 
was  fully  aroused,  when  it  began  to  expend  itself  in 
speeches  and  witticisms.  The  first  rap  was  made 
by  ^o-no-ai-o  a  humorous  old  chief.  Silence  being 
restored,  he  spoke  as  follows :  "  Friends  and  Rela 
tives —  I  am  occasionally  fond  of  a  drink  of  the 
strong  waters.  I  do  not  know  how  it  is  with  Ta-ya- 
d'd-o-wuti-kuh,  (the  guest  to  whom  the  War  dance  was 
given),(9)  but  presume  it  is  something  the  same  with 
him,  and  therefore  I  send  him  a  sixpence  to  buy  a 
drink  with  on  his  way  home."  Gives  the  money. 
Again  the  drum  sounded,  the  war-whoop  and  re 
sponses  were  given,  and  the  music  and  the  dance 
were  resumed.  At  the  end  of  the  tune  another  rap 
restored  silence.  Ha-sque-sa-o,  another  chief,  and  one 
somewhat  noted  for  his  fondness  for  the  fire-water, 
spoke  as  follows  :  "  Friends  and  Relatives  —  I  am 
much  pleased  with  the  dance,  and  hope  it  will  con 
tinue  to  be  well  sustained.  I  return  my  thanks  to 
the  war-dancers  for  the  spirit  with  which  they  per 
form  their  duty.  I  wish  them  all  prosperity  and 
long  life.  If  any  one  should  look  at  me,  they  will 
find  that  I  keep  my  eye  fixed  upon  the  dancers,  and 
furthermore,  that  I  have  a  good  eye,  so  much  so, 
that  one  would  think  I  wore  glasses.  I  take  from 
my  pocket  a  shilling  for  the  dancers."  Gives  the 
money.  The  dance  was  then  resumed.  At  the  end 
of  the  song,  the  speech  of  Ha-sque-sa-o  called  out 

264 


SPEECHES 

a  reply  from  Sa-de-wa-na,  as  follows :  "  Friends 
and  Relatives --We  have  just  heard  some  one  on 
the  other  side  of  the  house  announce,  that  he  had  an 
eye  so  bright  that  one  would  think  he  wore  specta 
cles.  But  as  he  has  a  pair  of  red  eyes,  we  must,  I 
suppose,  conclude  that  he  uses  red  spectacles."  Gives 
tobacco  to  the  dancers.  This  hit  at  Ha-sque r-sa-o 's 
infirmity  was  received  with  applause.  Again  the 
dance  goes  on  as  usual.  Among  the  dancers  were 
men  of  all  sizes,  figures  and  heights.  There  was  one 
warrior,  especially,  of  such  herculean  proportions  that 
he  might  be  called  a  giant.  He  furnished  a  theme 
for  the  next  speech,  which  was  made  by  Ha-sa-no- 
ari-da^  the  dance  having  ceased,  as  follows :  "  Friends 
and  Relatives  —  I  admire  the  ease  and  grace  with 
which  Ha-ho-yas  manages  his  wonderful  proportions. 
He  has  every  reason  to  be  proud  of  his  size  and  dig 
nity.  I  propose  to  give  him  a  present  of  two  plugs 
of  tobacco,  supposing  that  it  will  be  sufficient  for  one 
quid.1'  Gives  the  tobacco.  Ha-ho-yas  received  the 
tobacco  with  seeming  pleasure,  and  the  people  the  jest 
with  considerable  merriment.  At  the  conclusion  of 
the  next  song,  he  thus  replied  :  "  Friends  and  Rela 
tives  -  -  I  return  my  thanks  to  Ha-sa-no-ari-da  for 
his  present.  I  assure  him  that  my  intellectual  ca 
pacities  correspond  very  justly  with  my  physical 
dimensions.  I  hope  my  brother  will  publish  my 
fame  from  the  rising  to  the  setting  sun."  Again  the 
war-whoop  sounded,  the  music  opened,  and  the  dance 
was  renewed. 

Other  speeches  were  made  from  time  to  time,  some 
of  which  called  forth  applause,  and  in  due  time  a  reply 

265 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

adapted  to  the  case.  After  a  number  had  thus  spoken, 
Sa-de-wa-na  rapped  again.  When  the  music  and  the 
dancers  were  still,  he  thus  said  :  "  Friends  and  Rela 
tives —  I  have  made  another  strike.  I  desire  to  make 
a  present  to  the  women  who  have  assisted  in  preparing 
the  feast.  But  as  I  cannot  give  presents  to  all,  I  wish 
to  see  the  one  who  has  to-day  eaten  the  most  beef,  and 
is  considered  the  most  greedy.  I  request  her  to  come 
forward  and  receive  the  present."  One  of  them,  Gi- 
an-ok,  advanced  and  received  the  money,  good- 
naturedly,  which  the  people  applauded.  After  a  few 
more  courses  of  the  dance,  a  speech  was  made  by 
O-no'-sa,  of  a  more  serious  cast,  as  follows:  "Friends 
and  Relatives  —  We  have  reason  to  glory  in  the 
achievements  of  our  ancestors.  I  behold  with  sadness 
the  present  declining  state  of  our  noble  race.  Once 
the  warlike  yell  and  the  painted  band  were  the  terror 
of  the  white  man.  Then  our  fathers  were  strong,  and 
their  power  was  felt  and  acknowledged  far  and  wide 
over  the  American  continent.  But  we  have  been  re 
duced  and  broken  by  the  cunning  and  rapacity  of  the 
white-skinned  race.  We  are  now  compelled  to  crave, 
as  a  blessing,  that  we  may  be  allowed  to  live  upon  our 
own  lands,  to  cultivate  our  own  fields,  to  drink  from 
our  own  springs,  and  to  mingle  our  bones  with  those 
of  our  fathers.  Many  winters  ago,  our  wise  ancestors 
predicted  that  a  great  monster,  with  white  eyes,  would 
come  from  the  east,  and,  as  he  advanced,  would  con 
sume  the  land.  This  monster  is  the  white  race,  and 
the  prediction  is  near  its  fulfilment.  They  advised 
their  children,  when  they  became  weak,  to  plant  a  tree 
with  four  roots,  branching  to  the  north,  the  south,  the 

266 


SPEECHES 

east,  and  the  west ;  and  then  collecting  under  its  shade, 
to  dwell  together  in  unity  and  harmony.  This  tree, 
I  propose,  shall  be  this  very  spot.  Here  we  will 
gather,  here  live,  and  here  die."  Gives  tobacco,  to  the 
dancers.  The  dance  was  then  resumed  as  before,  and 
continued  until  a  rap  announced  another  speech  from 
To-no-ai'-o,  the  first  speaker,  who,  after  silence  was  re 
stored,  addressed  the  dancers  :  "In  my  view  of  the 
dance  you  do  not  do  it  as  well  as  it  can  be  done ; 
although  you  doubtless  have  done  as  well  as  you 
know  how.  When  I  was  a  young  man,  I  was  the 
greatest  dancer  of  my  time.  I  did  not  know  any  one 
who  could  surpass  me  in  the  War  dance.  Further 
more,  I  was  considered  the  best  singer  of  the  war- 
songs.  I  hope,  however,  you  will  continue  to  do  the 
best  you  can,  even  though  you  fail  to  perform  this 
dance  as  well  as  it  can  be  done.  I  have  another  piece 
of  the  leaf  which  I  will  turn  over  to  the  singers.  I 
wish  them  to  swallow  the  juice,  as  it  will  make  their 
voices  clear,  and  help  their  singing."  Gives  the 
tobacco.  Again  the  dance  was  resumed.  After  the 
next  tune,  this  speech  called  out  a  reply  from  Ja-ese\ 
as  follows  :  "  Friends  and  Relatives  —  We  have  just 
heard  a  speaker,  on  the  other  side  of  the  house,  boast 
ing  of  what  he  had  done  in  his  younger  days.  I  do 
not  like  to  hear  such  high  speaking  of  one's  self.  I 
should  like  to  see  ^o-no-ai-o  come  out  and  show  the 
people  what  he  can  do,  or  what  he  used  to  do  in  his 
younger  days."  Gives  money  to  the  dancers.  Again 
the  war-whoop  sounded,  the  responses  followed,  and 
the  music  and  the  dance  made  the  house  resound.  In 
this  manner  was  this  famous  dance  conducted  by  our 

267 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

primitive  inhabitants  around  their  domestic    council- 
fires. 

These  illustrations  will  suffice  to  exhibit  the  general 
character  of  these  speeches,  as  well  as  of  the  dance 
itself.  In  the  numerous  addresses  and  witticisms 
which  the  War  dance  called  forth,  the  Iroquois  took 
the  highest  delight.  They  served  the  double  purpose 
of  relieving  the  dancers  themselves,  who  would  soon 
have  been  exhausted  by  continuous  exertion,  and  of 
entertaining  the  people  in  the  interval.  This  was  the 
secret  of  its  great  popularity  as  a  dance,  and  of  its  uni 
versal  adoption.  To  this  day,  a  well-conducted  War 
dance  is  the  highest  entertainment  known  among  the 
Iroquois. 


Gus-da'-zva-sa,  or   Rattle. 

Second  in  the  public  estimation,  but  first  intrinsi 
cally,  stood  the  great  Feather  dance,  0-sto-weti-go-wd, 
sometimes  called  the  Religious  dance,  because  it  was 
specially  consecrated  to  the  worship  of  the  Great 
Spirit.  The  invention,  or  at  least  the  introduction  of 
this  dance,  is  ascribed  to  the  first  To-do-da -ho,  at  the 
period  of  the  formation  of  the  League.  In  its  Iro 
quois  origin,  they  all  concur.  It  was  performed  by  a 
select  band,  ranging  from  fifteen  to  thirty,  in  full  cos 
tume,  and  was  chiefly  used  at  their  religious  festivals, 
although  it  was  one  of  the  prominent  dances  on  all 

268 


GREAT  FEATHER    DANCE 

great  occasions  in  Indian  life.  This  dance  was  the 
most  splendid,  graceful  and  remarkable  in  the  whole 
collection,  requiring  greater  powers  of  endurance,  sup 
pleness  and  flexibility  of  person,  and  gracefulness  of 
deportment,  than  either  of  the  others.  The  saltandi 
ars,  or  dancing  art,  found  in  the  Feather  dance  its 
highest  achievement,  at  least  in  the  Indian  family  ; 
and  it  may  be  questioned  whether  a  corresponding 
figure  can  be  found  among  those  which  are  used  in 
refined  communities,  which  will  compare  with  it  in 
those  particulars  which  make  up  a  spirited  and  grace 
ful  dance. 

The  music  was  furnished  by  two  singers,  seated  in 
the  centre  of  the  room,  each  having  a  turtle-shell 
rattle  of  the  kind  represented  in  the  figure.1  It  con 
sisted  of  a  series  of  songs  or  measured  verses,  which 
required  about  two  minutes  each  for  their  recitation. 
They  were  all  religious  songs,  some  of  them  in  praise 
of  the  Great  Spirit,  some  in  praise  of  various  objects 
in  nature  which  ministered  to  their  wants,  others  in 
the  nature  of  thanksgivings  to  Ha-wen-ne'-yu,  or  sup 
plications  of  his  continued  protection.  The  rattles 
were  used  to  mark  time,  and  as  an  accompaniment  to 
the  songs.  In  using  them,  they  were  struck  upon  the 
seat  as  often  as  twice  or  thrice  in  a  second,  the  song 
and  the  step  of  the  dancers  keeping  time,  notwith 
standing  the  rapidity  of  the  beat. 

The  band  arrayed  themselves  in  their  costumes  in 


1  To  make  this  rattle  they  remove  the  animal  from  the  shell,  and  af 
ter  drying  it,  they  place  within  it  a  handful  of  flint-corn,  and  then  sew 
up  the  skin  which  is  left  attached  to  the  shell.  The  neck  of  the  turtle  is 
then  stretched  over  a  wooden  handle. 

269 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

an  adjacent  lodge,  came  into  the  council-house,  and 
opened  in  all  respects  as  in  the  case  last  described. 
Instead  of  grouping,  however,  within  the  area  of  a 
circle,  they  ranged  themselves  in  file,  and  danced 
slowly  around  the  council-house  in  an  elliptical  line. 
When  the  music  ceased,  the  dance  also  was  suspended, 
and  the  party  walked  in  column  to  the  beat  of  the 
rattles.  After  an  interval  of  about  two  minutes,  the 
rattles  quickened  their  time,  the  singers  commenced 
another  song,  and  the  warriors,  at  the  same  instant, 
the  dance.  The  leader,  standing  at  the  head  of  the 
column,  opened,  followed  by  those  behind.  As  they 
advanced  slowly  around  the  room,  in  the  dance,  they 
gestured  with  their  arms,  and  placed  their  bodies  in  a 
great  variety  of  positions,  but,  unlike  the  practice  in 
the  War  dance,  always  keeping  their  forms  erect. 
None  of  the  attitudes  in  this  dance  were  those  of  the 
violent  passions,  but  rather  of  the  mild  and  gentle 
feelings.  Consequently,  there  were  no  distortions 
either  of  the  countenance  or  the  body  ;  but  all  their 
movements  and  positions  were  extremely  graceful, 
dignified  and  imposing.  The  step  has  the  same 
general  peculiarities  as  that  in  the  dance  last  described, 
but  yet  is  quite  distinct  from  it.  Each  foot  in  succes 
sion  is  raised  from  two  to  eight  inches  from  the  floor, 
and  the  heel  is  then  brought  down  with  great  force  as 
frequently  as  the  beat  of  the  rattles.  Frequently  one 
heel  is  brought  down  twice  or  three  times  before  it 
alternates  with  the  other.  This  will  convey  an  im 
pression  of  the  surprising  activity  of  this  dance,  in 
which  every  muscle  of  the  body  appears  to  be  strung 
to  its  highest  degree  of  tension.  The  concussion  of 

270 


GREAT  FEATHER    DANCE 

the  foot  upon  the  floor  served  the  double  purpose  of 
shaking  the  rattles  and  bells,  which  form  a  part  of  the 
costume,  and  of  adding  to  the  noise  and  animation  of 
the  dance. 

The  dancers  were  usually  nude  down  to  the  waist, 
with  the  exception  of  ornaments  upon  their  arms  and 
necks,  as  represented  in  the  engraving,  thus  exposing 
their  well-formed  chests,  finely  rounded  arms,  and 
their  smooth,  evenly  colored  skins,  of  a  clear  and 
brilliant  copper  color.  This  exposure  of  the  person, 
not  in  any  sense  displeasing,  contributed  materially  to 
the  beauty  of  the  costume,  and  gave  a  striking  expres 
sion  to  the  figure  of  the  dancer.  Such  was  the  physi 
cal  exertion  put  forth  in  this  dance,  that  before  it 
closed,  the  vapor  of  perspiration  steamed  up,  like 
smoke,  from  their  uncovered  backs.  No  better  evi 
dence  than  this  need  be  given,  that  it  was  a  dance  full 
of  earnestness  and  enthusiasm.  One  of  their  aims  was 
to  test  each  other's  powers  of  endurance.  It  not  un- 
frequently  happened  that  a  part  of  the  original  number 
yielded  from  exhaustion  before  the  dance  was  ended. 
Nothing  but  practice  superadded  to  flexibility  of  per 
son  and  great  muscular  strength  would  enable  even  an 
Indian  to  perform  this  dance.  When  the  popular  ap 
plause  was  gained  by  one  of  the  band  for  spirited  or 
graceful  dancing,  he  was  called  out  to  stand  at  the  head 
of  the  column,  and  lead  the  party  :  in  this  way  several 
changes  of  leaders  occurred  before  the  final  conclusion 
of  the  figure. 

In  this  dance  the  women  participated,  if  they  were 
disposed.  They  wore,  however,  their  ordinary  ap 
parel,  and  entered  by  themselves  at  the  foot  of  the 

271 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I  R  O      U  O  I  S 


column.  The  female  step  is  entirely  unlike  the  one 
described.  They  moved  sideways  in  this  figure, 
simply  raising  themselves  alternately  upon  each  foot 
from  heel  to  toe,  and  then  bringing  down  the  heel 
upon  the  floor,  at  each  beat  of  the  rattle,  keeping  pace 
with  the  slowly  advancing  column.  With  the  females 
dancing  was  a  quiet  and  not  ungraceful  amusement. 

As  a  scene,  its  whole  effect  was  much  increased  by 
the  arrangement  of  the  dancers  into  column.  In  this 
long  array  of  costumes,  the  peculiar  features  of  each 
were  brought  more  distinctly  into  view,  and  by  keep 
ing  the  elliptical  area  around  which  they  moved, 
entirely  free  from  the  pressing  throng  of  Indian  specta 
tors,  a  better  opportunity  was  afforded  to  all  to  witness 
the  performance.  To  one  who  has  never  seen  this 
dance,  it  would  be  extremely  difficult  to  convey  any 
notion  of  its  surprising  activity,  and  its  inspiring  influ 
ence  upon  the  spectators.  Requiring  an  almost  con 
tinuous  exertion,  it  is  truly  a  marvellous  performance. 

The  Thanksgiving  dance,  Ga-na-o-uh,  was  likewise 
a  costume  dance,  and  given  by  a  select  band.  It  re 
sembles  the  one  last  described  so  closely,  both  in  step 
and  plan,  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  describe  it. 

One  of  the  most  simple  figures  among  the  Iroquois, 
was  called  the  Trotting  dance,  G'a-d'a-shote.  It  was 
usually  the  opening  dance  at  councils,  and  at  private 
entertainments,  when  no  costume  figures  were  intro 
duced.  A  person  appointed  to  act  as  leader,  followed 
by  a  few  others,  took  the  floor  and  began.  Others 
joined  in  as  the  column  passed  around  the  room. 

The  music  was  entirely  vocal,  and  furnished  by  those 
who  danced.  It  consisted  of  about  twenty  different 

272 


FISH  DANCE 

songs,  each  lasting  something  less  than  two  minutes. 
In  this  dance  the  tune  was  the  mere  repetition  of  one 
exclamation  by  those  at  the  head  of  the  column,  fol 
lowed  by  a  response,  in  chorus,  from  the  residue. 
Three  specimens  are  given  in  illustration.  The  leader, 
in  concert  with  those  nearest  him,  sang  the  following 
syllables :  Ta-ha-we-ya-ha  >  to  which  all  the  others 
responded,  Ha-ha .  This  would  be  repeated  and  re 
sponded  to,  for  about  two  minutes,  the  pronunciation 
of  the  syllables  being  subjected  to  a  musical  variation 
each  time.  When  the  tune  ended,  the  band  walked 
for  about  the  same  length  of  time.  The  next  song 
might  consist  of  the  syllables  Ga-no'-oh-he-yo,  with  the 
response  Wa-ha-ah-he-yo .  This  would  be  continued, 
and  the  key  varied,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  last. 
After  this  was  ended,  and  the  dancers  had  refreshed 
themselves  by  walking,  perhaps  the  next  song  would 
consist  of  the  following  syllables  :  Tu-wa-na-he-yo\ 
and  the  response  Wa-ha-ah-hd . 

As  to  the  step  it  was  very  simple,  being  nearly  a 
trot,  or  alternate  step  on  each  foot.  In  dancing,  those 
engaged  stood  close  to  each  other,  and  advanced  slowly 
around  the  council-house.  The  women  participated, 
but  they  were  by  themselves  at  the  foot  of  the  column. 
As  this  dance  was  extremely  simple,  it  was  not  uncom 
mon  to  see  two  and  even  three  hundred  engaged  in  it 
at  one  time,  moving  around  in  three  or  four  concentric 
lines. 

Another  figure,  in  very  general  use,  was  called 
the  Fish  dance,  Ga-so-wa-o-no.^  It  was  of  foreign 
origin.  The  music  consisted  of  singing,  accompanied 
with  the  drum,  and  the  squash-shell  rattle  ;  the  two 

VOL.  i.  —  18  273 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

singers  seating  themselves  in  the  centre  of  the  room 
facing  each  other,  and  using  the  drum  and  rattle  to 
mark  time,  and  increase  the  volume  of  the  music. 
The  step  was  merely  an  elevation  from  heel  to  toe, 
twice  repeated  upon  each  foot  alternately  ;  bringing 
down  the  heel  each  alternate  time  with  considerable 
force,  to  mark  time  and  make  the  floor  resound. 

The  dance  was  commenced  by  the  leader,  who  took 
the  floor,  followed  by  others,  and  walked  to  the  beat 
of  the  drum.  When  the  song  commenced,  each  alter 
nate  dancer  faced  round,  thus  bringing  the  column 
into  sets  of  two  each,  face  to  face,  those  who  turned 
dancing  backwards,  but  the  whole  band  moving  around 
the  room,  as  in  other  cases.  Each  song  or  tune  lasted 
about  three  minutes.  At  the  end  of  the  first  minute 
there  was  a  break  in  the  music,  and  the  sets  turned, 
thus  reversing  their  positions  ;  at  the  end  of  the  second 
there  was  another  change  in  the  music,  in  the  midst 
of  which  the  sets  turned  again,  which  brought  them 
back  to  their  original  positions.  Through  the  third 
and  last  subdivision  o.f  the  time,  the  dance  was  con 
tinued  with  increased  animation.  At  the  close  of  it, 
those  who  had  been  dancing  backwards  faced  around, 
and  the  whole  column  walked  about  two  minutes,  to 
the  beat  of  the  drum.  Another  tune  was  then  com 
menced  and  finished  in  the  same  manner. 

The  peculiarity  of  this  dance  was  the  opportunity 
which  it  afforded  the  Indian  maiden  to  select  whomever 
she  preferred  as  a  partner.  In  this  particular  the  cus 
tom  of  refined  communities  was  reversed.  The  warrior 
never  solicited  the  maiden  to  dance  with  him  ;  that 
privilege  was  accorded  to  her  alone.  In  the  midst  of 

274 


GISE-HA  OR  FEMALE  LEGGIN- 


DANCE   FOR    THE   DEAD 

the  dance,  the  females  present  themselves  in  pairs 
between  any  set  they  may  select,  thus  giving  to  each  a 
partner.  This  rule  prevails  in  all  Indian  dances  ;  so 
that  the  Indian  maiden  at  her  own  convenience 
"  gracefully  presents  her  personage  to  the  one  she  de 
signs  to  favor,  and  thus  quietly  engages  herself  in  the 
dance."  In  none  of  the  changes  of  position  in  this 
dance  do  the  partners  join  hands.  This  figure  usually 
continues  less  than  an  hour.  Sometimes,  as  a  mark 
of  respect  to  a  guest,  or  distinguished  chief,  two  wo 
men  presented  themselves  before  him,  as  partners  in 
the  dance. 

The  Passing  dance,  Ga-no'-ga-yo^  was  also  in  high 
favor.  It  is  similar  to  the  last,  the  column  being 
divided  into  sets  of  two  each,  the  women  engaging  in 
whichever  set  they  please.  At  a  certain  stage  of  the 
song,  the  woman  passed  her  partner,  and  took  the 
next,  her  place  being  supplied  from  behind.  They 
danced  around  the  room,  facing  each  other  in  pairs, 
the  men  moving  backwards.  The  music  and  the  step 
were  about  the  same  as  in  the  dance  last  described. 

An  occasional  and  very  singular  figure  was  called 
the  Dance  for  the  Dead.  It  was  known  as  the  O-ke- 
wa.  It  was  danced  by  the  women  alone.  The  music 
was  entirely  vocal,  a  select  band  of  singers  being 
stationed  in  the  centre  of  the  room.  To  the  songs 
for  the  dead,  which  they  sang,  the  dancers  joined  in 
chorus.  It  was  plaintive  and  mournful  music.  This 
dance  was  usually  separate  from  all  councils,  and  the 
only  dance  of  the  occasion.  It  commenced  at  dusk 
or  soon  after,  and  continued  until  towards  morning, 
when  the  shades  of  the  dead,  who  were  believed  to  be 

275 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

present  and  participate  in  the  dance,  were  supposed  to 
disappear.  This  dance  was  had  whenever  a  family, 
which  had  lost  a  member,  called  for  it,  which  was 
usually  about  a  year  after  the  event.  In  the  spring 
and  fall,  it  was  often  given  for  all  the  dead  indiscrimi 
nately,  who  were  believed  then  to  revisit  the  earth 
and  join  in  the  dance. 

One  of  their  performances  was  called  the  Buffalo 
dance,  Da-ge'-ya-go-o-an'-no.  It  was  designed  for 
males  alone.  The  music  consisted  of  singing,  accom- 


Gus-da'-wa-sa,  or  Squash-shell  Rattles. 

panied  with  the  drum  and  the  rattle.  Its  principal 
feature  was  the  attempt  to  imitate  the  actions  of  the 
buffalo.  According  to  tradition,  this  dance  originated 
in  a  warlike  expedition  of  the  Iroquois  against  the 
Cherokees.  When  they  had  proceeded  as  far  as  the 
Kentucky  salt  lick,  they  heard,  for  the  first  time,  the 
buffaloes,  "singing  their  favorite  songs"  (bellowing 
and  grumbling).  From  this  bellowing  the  music,  and 
from  their  actions  the  plan  of  the  dance,  were  made. 
In  connection  with  the  dances  of  the  Iroquois,  may 
be  mentioned  their  concerts,  which  occupy  a  con 
spicuous  place  in  their  amusements.  But  one  will  be 

276 


CO  N  CERTS 

noticed  of  the  four,  which  make  up  the  number  of 
kinds.  It  was  called  the  Q-ee-dose'.  It  was  given  in 
the  night,  in  a  dark  room,  and  no  women  were  allowed 
to  be  present.  Those  engaged  in  the  concert  were 
seated  on  benches  around  the  room,  in  a  continuous 
row,  each  one  holding  in  his  hand  a  rattle,  of  the  kind 
represented  in  the  figure.  These  rattles  were  made  to 
give  each  one  a  different  note,  by  means  of  different- 
sized  shells,  and  holes  bored  in  them  to  emit  the 
sound.  Among  twenty  of  them,  rattled  together  at 
such  a  concert,  no  two  would  give  the  same  sound. 
Corn  was  placed  inside  the  shell.  When  the  parties 
were  ready,  one  of  their  number  sang  a  song,  to  which 
they  all  beat  time  with  their  rattles,  and  at  certain  in 
tervals  all  joined  in  the  song  in  chorus.  Another  then 
commenced  a  song,  which  was  continued  and  finished 
in  the  same  manner.  After  each  one  in  turn  had 
sung  his  song,  which,  with  the  accompaniments  and 
the  choruses,  made  a  not  unpleasant  entertainment, 
the  concert  was  ended.1 

The  other  three  are  the  Medicine  concert,  Ga-no-da- 
yo-suh ;  the  Female  concert,  O-e-un-do-ta ;  and  the 
Thanksgiving  concert,  Ah'-do-weh,  before  described. 

1  The  Indian  appears  to  have  had  a  good  perception  of  time,  and  to 
have  measured  it,  in  his  music  and  dances,  with  considerable  exactness  ; 
but  in  tune  he  was  sadly  deficient.  He  knew  nothing  of  the  natural  in 
tervals  of  tones  and  semi-tones.  There  runs  always  through  his  music 
one  predominant  and  constantly  recurring  sound,  from  which  the  others 
vary  by  all  kinds  of  irregular  intervals  and  fractions  of  intervals.  The 
tunes  of  the  Iroquois,  if  the  name  may  be  given  to  their  rude  minstrelsy, 
were  both  numerous  and  varied,  and  capable,  also,  of  inspiring  enthusi 
asm  or  sadness.  In  their  occasional  songs,  as  in  the  Ah-do'-iveh,  the 
music,  as  well  as  the  words,  was  often  impromptu.  The  Indian  voice, 
especially  that  of  the  female,  is  musical,  and  highly  capable  of  cultivation. 

277 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I R O ^U O  I S 

It  will  not  be  necessary  to  describe  the  remaining 
dances.  Sufficient,  at  least,  has  been  presented,  to  give 
a  general  idea  of  the  Dance  among  the  Iroquois.  A 
few  of  them  have  been  given  in  detail,  as  they  seemed 
calculated  to  furnish  a  glimpse  of  Indian  society. 
These  amusements  of  our  primitive  inhabitants  are  not, 
in  themselves,  devoid  of  interest,  although  they  indi 
cate  a  tendency  of  mind  unbefitting  rational  men.  A 
hunter  by  nature  and  by  inclination,  averse  to  cities, 
and  impatient  of  labor,  the  chase,  the  war-path,  and 
the  council-fire,  with  the  dance,  furnished  the  three 
great  employments  of  his  life.  Who  shall  tell  how 
much  the  hopes,  the  friendships,  the  happiness,  and 
even  the  virtues  of  the  Indian,  were  bound  up  in  indis 
soluble  connection  with  the  Dance  ?  With  it  the  Iro 
quois  kindled  the  flame  of  patriotism  which  glowed  in 
his  breast,  while  vindicating  the  prowess  of  his  race 
upon  the  hills  of  New  England,  on  the  prairies  of  the 
Mississippi,  or  in  the  trackless  forests  of  the  South. 
With  it  he  celebrated  his  victories,  and  in  the  days  of 
peace  cultivated  his  social  affections.  And  with  it, 
also,  at  stated  seasons  of  the  year,  he  offered  up  his 
praise  and  homage  to  the  Great  Spirit,  the  ever  present 
Author  of  his  being.1 

1  SCHEDULE    OF    IROQUOIS    DANCES. (123) 

Those  marked  thus  *,  are  of  foreign  origin  5  thus  j,  are  now  obsolete 5 
and  thus  J,  are  costume  dances. 

1  O-sto-weh'-go-wa, ;{;  Great  Feather  Dance.  For  both  sexes. 

2  Ga-na'-o-uh,;};  Great  Thanksgiving  Dance.  " 

3  Da-yun'-da-nes-hunt-ha,  Dance  with  Joined  Hands.  " 

4  Ga-da'-shote,*  Trotting  Dance.  " 

5  O-to-wa'-ga-ka,*  f  North  Dance.  " 

278 


SCHEDULE    OF   DANCES 


6  Je-ha'-ya, 

7  Ga'-no-jit'-ga-o, 

8  Ga-so-wa'-o-no,*" 

9  Os-ko-da'-ta, 

10  Ga-no'-ga-yo,| 

1 1  So-wek-o-an'-no,"* 

12  Ja-ko'-wa-o-an'-no, 
i  3  Guk-sa'-ga-ne-a,-)- 

14  Ga-so'-a,-j- 

15  O-ke'-wa, 

1 6  O-as-ka-ne'-a, 

1 7  Da-swa-da-ne'-a, 

1 8  Ga-ne-a'-seh-o, j 

19  Un-da-da-o-at'-ha,-]- 

20  Un-to-we'-sus, 

2 1  Da-yo-da'-sun-da-e'-go, 

22  Wa-sa'-seh,^  J 

23  Da-ge'-ya-go-o-an'-no, 

24  Ne-a'-gwi-o-an'-no,* 

25  Wa-a-no'-a,-j- 

26  Ne-ho-sa-den'-da,-j- 

27  Ga-na-un'-da-do,-}-  J 

28  Un-de-a-ne-suk'-ta,-j-  J 

29  Eh-nes'-hen-do,-}- 

30  Ga-go'-sa, 

31  Ga-je'-sa, 

32  Un-da-de-a-dus'-shun-ne 


Antique  Dance. 
Taking  the  Kettle  out. 
Fish  Dance. 
Shaking  the  Bush. 
Rattle  Dance. 
Duck  Dance. 
Pigeon  Dance. 
Grinding  Dishes. 
Knee  Rattle  Dance. 
Dance  for  the  Dead. 
Shuffle  Dance. 
Tumbling  Dance. 
Turtle  Dance. 
Initiation  Dance  for  Girls. 
Shuffle  Dance. 
Dark  Dance. 
Sioux,  or  War  Dance. 
Buffalo  Dance. 
Bear  Dance. 
Striking  the  Stick. 
Squat  Dance. 
Scalp  Dance. 
Track  Finding  Dance. 
Arm  Shaking  Dance. 
False  Face  Dance. 
««        ««          « 

-at'-ha,-j-  Preparation  Dance. 


For  both  sexes. 


« 
(( 
« 
« 
« 
<  ( 

For  Females. 
c< 
II 
tt 
(I 
ft 
(( 
For  Males. 


279 


Chapter  V 


National  Games  —  Betting  —  Ball  Game  —  Game  of  Javelins  —  Game 
of  Deer  Buttons  —  Snow  Snake  Game  —  Snow  Boat  Game  —  Arch- 
.  ery  —  Peach-Stone  Game  —  Enthusiasm  for  Games 

IN  their  national  games  is  to  be  found  another 
fruitful  source  of  amusement  in  Indian  life. 
These  games  were  not  only  played  at  their  re 
ligious  festivals,  at  which  they  often  formed  a  con 
spicuous  part  of  the  entertainment,  but  special  days 
were  frequently  set  apart  for  their  celebration.  They 
entered  into  these  diversions  with  the  highest  zeal  and 
emulation,  and  took  unwearied  pains  to  perfect  them 
selves  in  the  art  of  playing  each  successfully.  There 
were  but  six  principal  games  among  the  Iroquois,  and 
these  are  divisible  into  athletic  games,  and  games  of 
chance. 

Challenges  were  often  sent  from  one  village  to 
another,  and  were  even  exchanged  between  nations, 
to  a  contest  of  some  of  these  games.  In  such  cases 
the  chosen  players  of  each  community  or  nation  were 
called  out  to  contend  for  the  prize  of  victory.  An 
intense  degree  of  excitement  was  aroused,  when  the 
champions  were  the  most  skilful  players  of  rival 
villages,  or  adjacent  nations.1  The  people  enlisted 

1  Tradition  relates  that  the  war  which  ended  in  the  expulsion  of  the 
Eries,  about  the  year  1654,  from  the  western  part  of  New  York,  origi 
nated  in  a  breach  of  faith  or  treachery  on  the  part  of  the  Eries,  in  a  Ball 
game  to  which  they  had  challenged  the  Senecas. 

280 


BETTING 

upon  their  respective  sides,  with  a  degree  of  enthusi 
asm,  which  would  have  done  credit,  both  to  the  spec 
tators  and  the  contestants,  at  the  far-famed  Elian 
games.  For  miles,  and  even  hundreds  of  miles,  they 
flocked  together  at  the  time  appointed  to  witness  the 
contest. 

Unlike-the  prizes  of  the  Olympic  games,  no  chap- 
lets  awaited  the  victors.  They  were  strifes  between 
nation  and  nation,  village  and  village,  or  tribes  and 
tribes  ;  in  a  word  parties  against  parties,  and  not 
champion  against  champion.  The  prize  contended 
for  was  that  of  victory  ;  and  it  belonged,  not  to  the 
triumphant  players,  but  to  the  party  which  sent  them 
forth  to  the  contest. 

When  these  games  were  not  played  by  one  com 
munity  against  another,  upon  a  formal  challenge,  the 
people  arranged  themselves  on  two  sides,  according 
to  their  tribal  divisions.  By  an  organic  provision  of 
the  Iroquois,  as  elsewhere  stated,  the  Wolf,  Bear, 
Beaver  and  Turtle  tribes  were  brothers  to  each  other, 
as  tribes,  and  cousins  to  the  other  four.  In  playing 
their  games  they  always  went  together,  and  formed 
one  party  or  side.  In  the  same  manner  the  Deer, 
Snipe,  Heron  and  Hawk  tribes  were  brothers  to  each 
other,  as  tribes,  and  cousins  to  the  four  first  .named. 
These  formed  a  second,  or  opposite  party.  Thus  in 
all  Indian  games,  with  the  exceptions  first  mentioned, 
the  people  divided  themselves  into  two  sections,  four 
of  the  tribes  always  contending  against  the  other 
four.(57)  Father  and  son,  husband  and  wife,  were  thus 
arrayed  in  opposite  ranks. 

Betting  upon  the  result  was  common  among  the 

281 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

Iroquois.  As  this  practice  was  never  reprobated  by 
their  religious  teachers,  but,  on  the  contrary,  rather 
encouraged,  it  frequently  led  to  the  most  reckless  in 
dulgence.  It  often  happened  that  the  Indian  gambled 
away  every  valuable  article  which  he  possessed ;  his 
tomahawk,  his  medal,  his  ornaments,  and  even  his 
blanket.(98)  The  excitement  and  eagerness  with  which 
he  watched  the  shifting  tide  of  the  game,  was  more 
uncontrollable  than  the  delirious  agitation  of  the 
pale-face  at  the  race-course,  or  even  at  the  gaming 
table.  Their  excitable  temperament  and  emulous 
spirits  peculiarly  adapted  them  for  the  enjoyment  of 
their  national  games. 

These  bets  were  made  in  a  systematic  manner,  and 
the  articles  then  deposited  with  the  managers  of  the 
game.  A  bet  offered  by  a  person  upon  one  side,  in 
the  nature  of  some  valuable  article,  was  matched  by  a 
similar  article,  or  one  of  equal  value,  by  some  one 
upon  the  other.  Personal  ornaments  made  the  usual 
gaming  currency.  Other  bets  were  offered  and  taken 
in  the  same  manner,  until  hundreds  of  articles  were 
sometimes  collected.  These  were  laid  aside  by  the 
managers,  until  the  game  was  decided,  when  each 
article  lost  by  the  event  was  handed  over  to  the 
winning  individual,  together  with  his  own,  which  he 
had  risked  against  it. 

With  the  Iroquois,  the  Ball  game,  O-ta-da-jisti-qua- 
age,  was  the  favorite  among  their  amusements  of  this 
description.  This  game  reaches  back  to  a  remote 
antiquity,  was  universal  among  the  red  races,  and  was 
played  with  a  degree  of  zeal  and  enthusiasm  which 
would  scarcely  be  credited.  It  was  played  with  a 

282 


BALL     GAME 

small  deer-skin  ball,  by  a  select  band,  usually  from  six 
to  eight  on  a  side,  each  set  representing  its  own  party. 
The  game  was  divided  into  several  contests,  in  which 
each  set  of  players  strove  to  carry  the  ball  through 
their  own  gate.  They  went  out  into  an  open  plain  or 
field,  and  erected  gates,  about  eighty  rods  apart,  on  its 


Ga-ne-a,  or  Ball  Bat. 

5  feet. 


opposite  sides.  Each  gate  was  simply  two  poles,  some 
ten  feet  high,  set  in  the  ground  about  three  rods 
asunder.  One  of  these  gates  belonged  to  each  party  ; 
and  the  contest  between  the  players  was,  which  set 
would  first  carry  the  ball  through  its  own  a  given 
number  of  times.  Either  five  or  seven  made  the 
game,  as  the  parties  agreed.  If  five,  for  example,  was 
the  number,  the  party  which  first  carried,  or  drove  the 
ball  through  its  own  gate  this  number  of  times,  won 
the  victory.  Thus,  after  eight  separate  contests,  the 

283 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IKO^UOIS 

parties  might  stand  equal,  each  having  won  four  ;  in 
which  case  the  party  which  succeeded  on  the  ninth 
contest  would  carry  the  game.  The  players  com 
menced  in  the  centre  of  the  field,  midway  between  the 
gates.  If  one  of  them  became  fatigued  or  disabled 
during  the  progress  of  the  game,  he  was  allowed  to 
leave  the  ranks,  and  his  party  could  supply  his  place 
with  a  fresh  player,  but  the  original  numbers  were  not 
at  any  time  allowed  to  be  increased.  Regular  man 
agers  were  appointed  on  each  side  to  see  that  the 
rules  of  the  game  were  strictly  and  fairly  observed. 
One  rule  forbade  the  players  to  touch  the  ball  with 
the  hand  or  foot. 

In  preparing  for  this  game,  the  players  denuded 
themselves  entirely,  with  the  exception  of  the  waist- 
cloth  l  (see  plate,  I.  51).  They  also  underwent, 
frequently,  a  course  of  diet  and  training,  as  in  a 
preparation  for  a  foot-race. 

When  the  day  designated  had  arrived,  the  people 
gathered  from  the  whole  surrounding  country,  to 
witness  the  contest.  About  meridian  they  assem 
bled  at  the  appointed  place,  and  having  separated 
themselves  into  two  companies,  one  might  be  seen 
upon  each  side  of  the  line,  between  the  gates,  arranged 
in  scattered  groups,  awaiting  the  commencement  of 
the  game.  The  players,  when  ready,  stationed  them 
selves  in  two  parallel  rows,  facing  each  other,  midway 
on  this  line/ each  one  holding  a  ball  bat,  of  the  kind 

1  The  Ga'-ka,  or  waist-cloth,  was  a  strip  of  deer-skin  or  broadcloth, 
about  a  quarter  wide  and  two  yards  long,  ornamented  at  the  ends  with 
bead  or  quill  work.  It  was  passed  between  the  limbs,  and  secured  by  a 
deer-skin  belt,  passing  around  the  waist,  the  embroidered  ends  falling  over 
the  belt,  before  and  behind,  in  the  fashion  of  an  apron. 

284 


BALL     GAME 

represented  in  the  figure,  and  with  which  alone  the 
ball  was  to  be  driven.  As  soon  as  all  the  prelimi 
naries  were  adjusted,  the  ball  was  dropped  between 
the  two  files  of  players,  and  taken  between  the  bats 
of  the  two  who  stood  in  the  middle  of  each  file, 
opposite  to  each  other.  After  a  brief  struggle  be 
tween  them,  in  which  each  player  endeavored,  with 
his  bat,  to  get  possession  of  the  ball,  and  give  it  the 
first  impulse  towards  his  own  gate,  it  was  thrown  out, 
and  then  commenced  the  pursuit.  The  flying  ball, 
when  overtaken,  was  immediately  surrounded  by  a 
group  of  players,  each  one  striving  to  extricate  it, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  direct  it  towards  his  party 
gate.  In  this  way.  the  ball  was  frequently  imprisoned 
in  different  parts  of  the  field,  and  an  animated 
controversy  maintained  for  its  possession.  When 
freed,  it  was  knocked  upon  the  ground,  or  through 
the  air ;  but  the  moment  a  chance  presented,  it  was 
taken  up  upon  the  deer-skin  network  of  the  ball  bat, 
by  a  player  in  full  career,  and  carried  in  a  race  towards 
the  gate.  To  guard  against  this  contingency,  by 
which  one  contest  of  the  game  might  be  determined 

D  O 

in  a  moment,  some  of  the  players  detached  them 
selves  from  the  group  contending  around  the  ball, 
and  took  a  position  from  which  to  intercept  a  runner 
upon  a  diagonal  line,  if  it  should  chance  that  one  of 
the  adverse  party  got  possession  of  the  ball.  These 
races  often  formed  the  most  exciting  part  of  the 
game,  both  from  the  fleetness  of  the  runners,  and 
the  consequences  which  depended  upon  the  result. 
When  the  line  of  the  runner  was  crossed,  by  an  ad 
versary  coming  in  before  him  upon  a  diagonal  line, 

285 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

and  he  found  it  impossible,  by  artifice  or  stratagem, 
to  elude  him,  he  turned  about,  and  threw  the  ball 
over  the  heads  of  both  of  them,  towards  his  gate ; 
or,  perchance,  towards  a  player  of  his  own  party,  if 
there  were  adverse  players  between  him  and  the  gate. 
When  the  flight  of  the  ball  was  arrested  in  any  part 
of  the  field,  a  spirited  and  even  fierce  contest  was 
maintained  around  it;  the  players  handled  their  bats 
with  such  dexterity,  and  managed  their  persons 
with  such  art  and  adroitness,  that  frequently  several 
minutes  elapsed  before  the  ball  flew  out.  Occasion 
ally  in  the  heat  of  the  controversy,  but  entirely  by 
accident,  a  player  was  struck  with  such  violence  that 
the  blood  trickled  down  his  limbs.  'In  such  a  case, 
if  disabled,  he  dropped  his  bat  and  left  the  field, 
while  a  fresh  player  from  his  own  party  supplied 
his  place.  In  this  manner  was  the  game  contested  : 
oftentimes  with  so  much  ardor  and  skill  that  the 
ball  was  recovered  by  one  party  at  the  very  edge 
of  the  adverse  gate  ;  and  finally,  after  many  shifts 
in  the  tide  of  success,  carried  in  triumph  through 
its  own.  When  one  contest  in  the  game  was  thus 
decided,  the  prevailing  party  sent  up  a  united  shout 
of  rejoicing. 

After  a  short  respite  for  the  refreshment  of  the 
players,  the  second  trial  was  commenced,  and  con 
tinued  like  the  first.  Sometimes  it  was  decided  in 
a  few  moments,  but  more  frequently  it  lasted  an 
hour,  and  sometimes  much  longer,  to  such  a  system 
had  the  playing  of  this  game  been  reduced  by  skill 
and  practice.  If  every  trial  was  ardently  contested, 
and  the  parties  continued  nearly  equal  in  the  number 

286 


GAME    OF   JAVELINS 

decided,  it  often  lengthened  out  the  game,  until  the 
approaching  twilight  made  it  necessary  to  take  another 
day  for  its  conclusion. 

On  the  final  decision  of  the  game,  the  exclama 
tions  of  triumph,  as  would  be  expected,  knew  no 
bounds.  Caps,  tomahawks  and  blankets  were  thrown 
up  into  the  air,  and  for  a  few  moments  the  notes  of 
victory  resounded  from  every  side.  It  was  doubtless 
a  considerate  provision,  that  the  prevailing  party  were 
upon  a  side  of  the  field  opposite  to,  and  at  a  distance 
from,  the  vanquished,  otherwise  such  a  din  of  ex 
ultation  might  have  proved  too  exciting  for  Indian 
patience. 

In  ancient  times  they  used  a  solid  ball  of  knot. 
The  ball  bat,  also,  was  made  without  network,  hav 
ing  a  solid  and  curving  head.  At  a  subsequent  day, 
they  substituted  the  deer-skin  ball  and  the  network 
ball  bat  in  present  use.  These  substitutions  were 
made  so  many  years  ago  that  they  have  lost  the  date. 


Ga-geb'-da,  or  Javelin. 

The  game  of  Javelins,  Ga-na'-ga-o,  was  very  simple, 
depending  upon  the  dexterity  with  which  the  javelin 
was  thrown  at  a  ring,  as  it  rolled  upon  the  ground. 
They  frequently  made  it  a  considerable  game,  by  en 
listing  skilful  players  to  prepare  for  the  contest,  and 
by  betting  upon  the  result.  The  people  divided  by 

287 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

tribes,  the  four  brothers  playing  against  their  four 
cousin  tribes,  as  in  the  last  case,  unless  the  game 
was  played  on  a  challenge  between  neighboring 
communities. 

The  javelin  was  five  or  six  feet  in  length,  by 
three-fourths  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  and  was  usually- 
made  of  hickory  or  maple.  It  was  finished  with 
care,  sharpened  at  one  end,  and  striped  as  shown  in 
the  figure.  The  ring  was  about  eight  inches  in  di 
ameter,  made  either  into  a  hoop  or  solid  like  a 
wheel,  by  winding  with  splints.  Sometimes  the  jave 
lin  was  thrown  horizontally,  by  placing  the  forefinger 
against  its  foot,  and  supporting  it  with  the  thumb 
and  second  finger  ;  in  other  cases  it  was  held  in  the 
centre,  and  thrown  with  the  hand  raised  above  the 
shoulder. 

On  either  side,  from  fifteen  to  thirty  players  were 
arranged,  each  having  from  three  to  six  javelins, 
the  number  of  both  depending  upon  the  interest  in 
the  game,  and  the  time  they  wished  to  devote  to  the 
contest.  The  javelins  themselves  were  the  forfeit,  and 
the  game  was  gained  by  the  party  which  won  them. 

Among  the  preliminaries  to  be  settled  by  the 
managers,  was  the  line  on  which  the  ring  was  to  be 
rolled,  the  distance  of  the  two  bands  of  players 
from  each  other,  and  the  space  between  each  and 
the  line  itself.  When  these  points  were  adjusted, 
and  the  parties  stationed,  the  ring  was  rolled  by  one 
party  on  the  line,  in  front  of  the  other.  As  it 
passed  the  javelins  were  thrown.  If  the  ring  was 
struck  by  one  of  them,  the  players  of  the  adverse 
party  were  required,  each  in  turn,  to  stand  in  the 

288 


GAME    OF   JAVELINS 

place  of  the  person  who  struck  it,  and  throw  their 
javelins  in  succession  at  the  ring,  which  was  set  up 
as  a  target,  on  the  spot  where  it  was  hit.  Those  of 
the  javelins  which  hit  the  target  when  thus  thrown 
were  saved  ;  if  any  missed  they  were  passed  to  the 
other  party,  and  by  them  were  again  thrown  at  the 
ring  from  the  same  point.  Those  which  hit  were 
won,  finally,  and  laid  out  of  the  play,  while  the 
residue  were  restored  to  their  original  owners.  After 
this  first  contest  was  decided,  the  ring  was  rolled 
back,  and  the  other  party,  in  turn,  threw  their 
javelins.  If  it  was  struck,  the  party  which  rolled  it 
was  required,  in  the  same  manner,  to  hazard  their 
javelins,  by  throwing  them  at  the  target.  Such  as 
missed  were  delivered  to  the  other  party,  and  those 
which  hit  the  target  when  thrown  by  them,  were  won 
also,  and  laid  out  of  the  play.  In  this  manner  the 
game  was  continued,  until  one  of  the  parties  had 
lost  their  javelins,  which,  of  itself,  determined  the 
contest/122) 

There  was  another  game  of  javelins,  Ga-ga-da-yan- 
duk,  played  by  shooting  them  through  the  air.  In 
this  game,  the.  javelin  used  was  made  of  sumac,  be 
cause  of  its  lightness,  and  was  of  the  same  length 
and  size  as  in  the  former.  This  game  was  divided 
into  contests,  as  the  Ball  game,  and  was  won  by  the 
party  which  first  made  the  number  agreed  upon. 
The  game  was  usually  from  fifteen  to  twenty,  and 
the  number  of  players  on  a  side  ranged  from  five  to 
ten.  When  the  parties  were  ready,  the  one  which 
had  the  first  throw  selected  the  object  upon  which 
the  javelin  was  to  be  thrown,  to  give  it  an  upward 
VOL.  i.  — 19  289 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO9UOIS 

^VJ 

flight,  and  also  its  distance  from  the  standing  point. 
If,  for  example,  it  was  a  log,  at  the  distance  of  a 
rod,  the  player  placed  his  forefinger  against  the  foot 
of  the  javelin,  and,  supporting  it  with  his  thumb  and 
second  finger,  he  threw  it  in  such  a  manner,  that  it 
would  strike  the  upper  side  of  the  log,  and  thus  be 
thrown  up  into  the  air,  and  forward,  until  its  force 
was  spent.  In  this  manner  all  the  players,  in  turn, 
threw  their  javelins.  The  one  which  was  thrown  the 
greatest  distance  won  a  point.  If  another,  upon  the 
same  side,  was  in  advance  of  all  upon  the  opposite 
side,  it  counted  another,  and  so  on  for  every  one 
which  led  all  those  upon  the  opposite  side.  In  the 
next  contest,  the  second  party  chose  the  object  over 
which  to  throw  the  javelin,  and  the  distance.'  The 
game  was  thus  continued,  until  the  number  of  points 
were  gained  which  were  agreed  upon  for  the  game. 


Gus-ga-e-sa'-ta,  or  Deer-buttons  S^ 

This  was  strictly  a  fireside  game,  although  it  was 
sometimes  introduced  as  an  amusement  at  the  sea 
son  of  religious  councils,  the  people  dividing  into 

290 


GAME    OF   DEER    BUTTONS 

tribes,  as  usual,  and  betting  upon  the  result.  Eight 
buttons,  about  an  inch  in  diameter,  were  made  of 
elk-horn,  and  having  been  rounded  and  polished, 
were  slightly  burned  upon  one  side  to  blacken  them. 
When  it  was  made  a  public  game,  it  was  played  by 
two  at  a  time,  with  a  change  of  players,  as  elsewhere 
described  in  the  Peach-stone  game.  At  the  fireside, 
it  was  played  by  two  or  more,  and  all  the  players 
continued  in  their  seats  until  it  was  determined.  A 
certain  number  of  beans,  fifty  perhaps,  were  made  the 
capital,  and  the  game  continued  until  one  of  the 
players  had  won  them  all.  Two  persons  spread  a 
blanket,  and  seated  themselves  upon  it.  One  of 
them  shook  the  deer-buttons  in  his  hands,  and  then 
threw  them  down.  If  six  turned  up  of  the  same 
color,  it  counted  two,  if  seven,  it  counted  four,  and  if 
all,  it  counted  twenty,  the  winner  taking  as  many 
beans  from  the  general  stock  as  he  made  points  by 
the  throw.  He  also  continued  to  throw  as  long  as 
he  continued  to  win.  When  less  than  six  came  up, 
either  black  or  white,  it  counted  nothing,  and  the 
throw  was  passed  to  the  other  player.  In  this  man 
ner  the  game  was  continued  until  the  beans  were 
taken  up  between  the  two  players.  After  that  the 
one  paid  to  the  other  out  of  his  own  winnings,  the 
game  ending  as  soon  as  the  capital  in  the  hands  of 
either  player  was  exhausted.  If  four  played,  each 
had  a  partner,  or  played  independently,  as  they  were 
disposed  ;  but  when  more  than  two  played,  each  one 
was  to  pay  to  the  winner  the  amount  won.  Thus,  if 
four  were  playing  independently,  and  after  the  beans 
were  distributed  among  them,  in  the  progress  of  the 

29r 


LEAGUE    OF   THE    IRO^UOIS 

game,  one  of  them  should  turn  the  buttons  up  all 
black,  or  all  white,  the  other  three  would  be  obliged 
to  pay  him  twenty  each  ;  but  if  the  beans  were  still 
in  bank,  he  took  up  but  twenty.  The  deer-buttons 
were  of  the  same  size.  In  the  figure  they  are  repre 
sented  at  different  angles. 


Ga-zuaf-sa,  or  Snow-Snake. 

Among  the  amusements  of  the  winter  season,  in 
Indian  life,  was  the  game  with  Snow  snakes.  It  was 
primarily  designed  as  a  diversion  for  the  young;  but 
it  was  occasionally  made  a  public  game  between  the 
tribes  like  the  other,  and  aroused  a  great  degree  of 
spirit,  and  the  usual  amount  of  betting.  «  The  snake 
was  thrown  with  the  hand  by  placing  the  forefinger 
against  its  foot,  and  supporting  it  with  the  thumb  and 
remaining  fingers.  It  was  thus  made  to  run  upon  the 
snow  crust  with  the  speed  of  an  arrow,  and  to  a  much 
greater  distance,  sometimes  running  sixty  or  eighty 
rods.  The  success  of  the  player  depended  upon  his 
dexterity  and  muscular  strength. 

The  snakes  were  made  of  hickory,  and  with  the  most 
perfect  precision  and  finish.  They  were  from  five  to 
seven  feet  in  length,  about  a  fourth  of  an  inch  in  thick 
ness,  and  gradually  diminishing  from  about  an  inch  in 
width  at  the  head,  to  about  half  an  inch  at  the  foot. 
The  head  was  round,  turned  up  slightly,  and  pointed 
with  lead  to  increase  the  momentum  of  the  snake. 

292 


SNOW  SNAKE    GAME 

This  game,  like  that  of  ball,  was  divided  into  a 
number  of  separate  contests ;  and  was  determined 
when  either  party  had  gained  the  number  of  points 
agreed  upon,  which  was  generally  from  seven  to  ten. 
The  players  were  limited  and  select,  usually  not  more 
than  six.  A  station  was  determined  upon,  with  the 
line,  or  general  direction  in  which  the  snake  was  to 
be  thrown.  After  they  had  all  been  thrown  by  the 
players  on  both  sides,  the  next  question  was  to  deter 
mine  the  count.  The  snake  which  ran  the  greatest 
distance  was  a  point  for  the  side  to  which  it  belonged. 
Other  points  might  be  won  on  the  same  side,  if  a  sec 
ond  or  third  snake  was  found  to  be  ahead  of  all  the 
snakes  upon  the  adverse  side.  One  count  was  made 
for  each  snake  which  outstripped  all  upon  the  adverse 
side.  These  contests  were  repeated  until  one  of  the 
parties  had  made  the  requisite  number  of  points  to 
determine  the  game. 

Top  view 


Bottom  view 
Da-ya-no-t'd-yen-d'd-qu'a,  or  Snow  Boat. 

With  the  snow  boat  was  played  one  of  the  winter 
games  of  the  Iroquois,  in  which  the  strife  was  to  dis 
cover  which  boat  would  run  the  farthest  in  an  iced 

293 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I R O QU O I S 

trench  or  path.  The  boat  was  about  fifteen  inches  in 
length,  and  made  of  beech,  or  other  hard  wood,  some 
thing  in  the  fashion  of  a  canoe.  It  was  solid,  with  the 
exception  of  an  oblong  cavity  in  the  centre,  over 
which  arched  a  hickory  bow,  designed  to  suspend 
bells  or  other  rattles  upon.  In  the  stern  of  this  little 
vessel  a  white  feather  was  inserted  for  a  flag,  by  which 
to  follow  it  in  its  descent.  On  the  bottom  the  boat 
was  rounded,  but  with  a  slight  wind  lengthwise,  as 
shown  in  the  figure,  to  give  it  a  true  direction. 

A  side  hill  with  an  open  plain  below  was  the 
kind  of  place  selected  to  try  the  speed  of  the  boats. 
Trenches  in  a  straight  line  down  the  hill,  and  about  a 
foot  wide,  were  made  by  treading  down  the  snow ; 
after  which  water  was  poured  into  them  that  it  might 
freeze  and  line  the  trenches  throughout  their  whole 
extent  with  ice.  These  trenches  to  the  number  of  a 
dozen,  side  by  side,  if  as  many  individuals  intended 
to  play,  were  finished  with  the  greatest  care  and  exact 
ness,  not  only  down  the  hill  side,  but  to  a  consider 
able  distance  across  the  plain  below.  At  the  same 
time  the  boats  themselves  were  dipped  in  water  that 
they  might  also  be  coated  with  ice. 

The  people  divided  by  tribes  in  playing  this,  as  in 
all  other  Iroquois  games ;  the  Wolf,  Bear,  Beaver, 
and  Turtle  tribes  playing  against  the  Deer,  Snipe, 
Heron,  and  Hawk.(55)  At  the  time  appointed  the 
people  assembled  at  the  base  of  the  hill  and  divided 
off  by  tribes,  and  then  commenced  betting  upon  the 
result,  a  custom  universally  practised  on  such  occa 
sions.  The  game  was  played  by  select  players  who 
were  stationed  at  the  top  of  the  hill,  each  with  two  or 

294 


SNOW  BOAT   GAME 

three  boats,  and  standing  at  the  head  of  his  own 
trench.  When  all  was  in  readiness  the  boats  were 
started  off  together  at  the  appointed  moment,  and 
their  rapid  descent  was  watched  with  eager  interest  by 
the  people  below.  It  is  not  necessary  to  describe  the 
scene.  If  the  game  was  twenty  it  would  be  continued 
until  one  side  had  made  that  number  of  points.  A 
count  of  one  was  made  for  every  boat  which  led  all 
upon  the  adverse  side,  so  that  if  there  were  six  players 
on  a  side  it  was  possible  for  that  number  to  be  made 
at  one  trial.  On  the  contrary,  if  all  the  boats  but  one 
upon  one  side  were  in  advance  of  all  on  the  adverse 
side  but  one,  and  the  latter  was  in  advance  of  all,  this 
head  boat  would  win  and  count  one.  The  principles 
of  the  game  are  precisely  the  same  as  in  the  Snow 
Snake  game.  All  of  these  Indian  games  were  played 
with  great  zeal  and  enthusiasm.  To  us  they  appear 
to  be  puerile  -amusements  for  men  in  the  prime  of 
manhood ;  but  yet  they  were  adapted  to  the  ways  and 
habits  of  a  people  living  without  arts,  and  without  the 
intellectual  employments  which  pertain  to  civilized 
life.  Such  games  mark  the  infancy  of  the  human 
mind,  but  they  often  beget  a  generous  emulation  and 
a  ready  skill  which  lead  to  future  improvement  and 
elevation. 

In  archery  the  Indian  has  scarcely  been  excelled. 
With  a  quick  eye  and  a  powerful  muscle,  he  could 
send  the  arrow  as  unerringly  as  the  archers  of  Robin 
Hood.  It  cannot  be  called,  in  strictness,  a  game, 
but  trials  of  skill  were  common  in  ancient  times  ; 
successful  archery  raising  the  individual  into  high 
repute. 

295 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I  R  O 


O  I  S 


The  Indian  bow  was  usually  from  three  and  a 
half  to  four  feet  in  length,  with  such  a  difficult  spring 
that  an  inexperienced  person  could  scarcely  bend 
it  sufficiently  to  set  the  string.  To  draw  the  string 
back,  when  set,  an  arm's  length,  could  only  be  done 
by  practice,  superadded  to  the  most  powerful  mus 
cular  strength.  An  arrow  thus  sent  would  strike 
its  object  with  fearful  velocity.  The  arrow  was  about 
three  feet  in  length,  and  feathered  at  the  small  end 


Wa-d '-no,  or  Bow. 


Go.' -no,  or  Arrow. ,(74) 

with  a  twist  to  make  it  revolve  in  its  flight.  It  gave 
to  its  motion  horizontality  and  precision,  doubtless 
suggesting,  at  a  later  day,  the  idea  of  the  twist  in  the 
rifle  barrel,  by  which  the  ball  is  made  to  revolve  in 
the  same  manner.  The  English  and  Scottish  archers 
feathered  their  arrows,  but  without  this  peculiarity. 
Three  feathers  were  also  used  by  them,  which  were 
set  parallel  with  the  arrow  and  with  each  other.  But 
they  were  set  upon  one  side  of  the  arrow  at  its  three 
quarters,  and  in  such  a  way  that  the  three  parallel  feath 
ers  formed  obtuse  angles  with  each  other.  The  Indian 

296 


ARCHERY 

used  but  two  feathers,  which  passed  around  the  oppo 
site  sides  of  the  arrow  in  a  twist,  as  shown  in  the 
figure.  For  this  purpose  the  feather  was  stripped  off 
from  the  quill  and  tied  to  the  arrow  with  sinew. 
Originally,  the  Indian  arrow  was  pointed  with  a  flint 
or  chert-head,  which  would  enable  it  to  penetrate 
deeply  any  object  at  which  it  was  directed.  With 
such  an  arrow,  it  was  an  easy  matter  to  bring  down 
the  deer,  the  wild  fowl,  or  the  warrior  himself.  Skele 
tons  have  been  disentombed,  having  the  skull  pene 
trated  with  an  arrow-head  of  this  description,  with 
the  flint-head  itself  still  in  the  fracture,  or  entirely 
within  the  skull.  In  Oregon  and  on  the  upper  Mis 
sissippi,  the  Indian  arrow  is  still  pointed  with  flint. 
Thus  it  was  with  the  Iroquois,  until  the  bow  was 
laid  aside  for  the  rifle.  Arrow-heads  of  this  descrip 
tion  are  still  found  scattered  over  the  whole  surface 
of  the  State.  .With  Indian  youth,  the  bow  and  the 
arrow  is  still  a  favorite  source  of  amusement. 


y  or  Arrow. 

3  feet. 


In  ancient  times  arrows  were  pointed  with  horn  or 
bone  as  well  as  with  flint,  and  made  even  more  dan 
gerous  missiles  in  the  former  cases.  The  above  is  a 
representation  of  an  arrow  of  this  description,  which, 
with  several  others,  was  purchased  of  an  Oneida  on 
Grand  river.  It  is  about  three  feet  in  length  and 
pointed  with  deer's  horn. 

The  sheaf  is  an  Indian  invention  of  great  an 
tiquity,  and  universal  among  Indian  races.  It  was 


297 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

sometimes  made  of  the  skin  of  a  small  animal,  like 
the  wolf,  which  was  taken  off  entire,  dressed  with  the 
hair  on,  and  hung  upon  the  back,  the  arrows  being 
placed  within  it.  But  the  choicer  articles  were  made 
of  dressed  unhaired  deer-skin,  and  embroidered  with 
porcupine  quills  as  represented  in  the  figure.  It  was 
made  of  two  strips  of  deer-skin  about  two  feet  in 
length  and  of  unequal  width  :  one  of  these  was  narrow 
for  the  back  side  ;  the  other  about  three  times  its 
wjdth  so  as  to  make  a  convex  front,  thus  forming  a 
species  of  sac  in  which  the  arrows  were  deposited. 
The  ordinary  sheaf,  as  used  by  the  Iroquois  in  ancient 
times,  would  hold  from  fifteen  to  twenty-five  arrows  ; 


Ga-das-ba,  or  Sheaf. 
2  feet. 

but  those  used  by  the  western  Indians  were  generally 
large  enough  for  forty  or  fifty.  It  was  worn  on  the 
back  inclining  from  the  left  shoulder  down  towards 
the  belt  on  the  right  side  of  the  body,  crossing  the 
back  diagonally.  There  are  deer-string  fastenings  at 
each  end,  the  lower  ones  being  attached  to  the  waist- 
belt,  and  the  upper  ones  passing  around  the  neck  and 
under  the  left  arm.  To  draw  forth  an  arrow  and 
place  it  in  the  bow,  it  was  necessary  to  raise  the  right 
hand  to  the  left  shoulder  when  it  came  at  once  in 
contact  with  the  feathered  end,  which  projected  from 
the  sheaf;  so  that  it  was  but  the  work  of  a  second  to 
set  an  arrow  in  its  place. 

298 


FOOT-RACES 

Foot-races  furnished  another  pastime  for  the  Iro- 
quois.  They  were  often  made  a  part  of  the  enter 
tainment  with  which  civil  and  mourning  councils 
were  concluded.  In  this  athletic  game  the  Indian 
excelled.  The  exigencies,  both  of  war  and  peace, 
rendered  it  necessary  for  the  Iroquois  to  have  among 
them  practiced  and  trained  runners.  A  spirit  of  emu 
lation  often  sprang  up  among  them,  which  resulted 
in  regular  contests  for  the  palm  of  victory.  In  these 
races,  the  four  tribes  put  forward  their  best  runners 
against  those  of  the  other  four,  and  left  the  question 
of  superiority  to  be  determined  by  the  event  of  the 
contest.  Before  the  time  appointed  for  the  races, 
they  prepared  themselves  for  the  occasion  by  a  process 
of  training.  It  is  not  necessary  to  describe  them. 
They  dressed  in  the  same  manner  for  the  race  as  for 
the  game  of  ball.  Leaping,  wrestling  and  the  other 
gymnastic  exercises  appear  to  have  furnished  no  part 
of  the  public  amusements  of  our  primitive  inhabitants. 

An  ancient  and  favorite  game  of  the  Iroquois, 
Gus-ka-ehy  was  played  with  a  bowl  and  peach- 
stones.(98  It  was  always  a  betting  game,  in  which 
the  people  divided  by  tribes.  By  established  custom, 
it  was  introduced  as  the  concluding  exercise  on  the 
last  day  of  the  Green  Corn  and  the  Harvest  festivals, 
and  also  of  the  New  Year's  jubilee.  Its  introduc 
tion  among  them  is  ascribed  to  the  first  To-do-da -ho, 
who  flourished  at  the  formation  of  the  League.  A 
popular  belief  prevailed,  that  this  game  would  be 
enjoyed  by  them  in  the  future  life,  in  the  realm  of 
the  Great  Spirit ;  which  is,  perhaps,  but  an  extrava 
gant  way  of  expressing  their  admiration  for  the  game. 

299 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I  RO^UOIS 

A  dish,  about  a  foot  in  diameter  at  the  base,  was 
carved  out  of  a  knot,  or  made  of  earthen.  Six  peach- 
stones  were  then  ground,  or  cut  down  into  an  oval 
form,  reducing  them  in  the  process  about  half  in  size, 
after  which  the  heart  of  the  pit  was  removed,  and  the 
stones  themselves  were  burned  upon  one  side,  to  blacken 


Gus-ka*-eb,  or  Peach  Stones. 


Ga-jlhy  or  Bowl. 

them.  The  above  representation  will  exhibit  both  the 
bowl  and  the  peach-stones  ;  the  latter  being  drawn  in 
different  positions  to  show  the  degree  of  their  convexity. 
It  was  a  very  simple  game,  depending,  in  part,  upon 
the  dexterity  of  the  player,  but  more  upon  his  good 
fortune.  The  peach-stones  were  shaken  in  the  bowl 

300 


PEACH  STONE    GAME 

by  the  player,  the  count  depending  upon  the  number 
which  came  up  of  one  color,  after  they  had  ceased  roll 
ing  in  the  dish.  It  was  played  in  the  public  council- 
house  by  a  succession  of  players,  two  at  a  time,  under 
the  supervision  of  managers  appointed  to  represent  the 
two  parties,  and  to  conduct  the  contest.  Its  length 
depended  somewhat  upon  the  number  of  beans  which 
made  the  bank,  usually  one  hundred,  the  victory  being 
gained  by  the  side  which  finally  won  them  all. 

A  platform  was  erected  a  few  feet  from  the  floor  and 
spread  with  blankets.  When  the  betting  was  ended, 
and  the  articles  had  been  delivered  into  the  custody  of 
the  managers,  they  seated  themselves  upon  the  plat^ 
form  in  the  midst  of  the  throng  of  spectators,  and  two 
persons  sat  down  to  the  game  between  the  two  divi 
sions  into  which  they  arranged  themselves.  The  beans, 
in  the  first  instance,  were  placed  together  in  a  bank. 
Five  of  them  were  given  to  each  player,  with  which 
they  commenced.  Each  player,  by  the  rules  of  the 
game,  was  allowed  to  keep  his  seat  until  he  had  lost  this 
outfit,  after  which  he  surrendered  it  to  another  player 
on  his  own  side  selected  by  the  managers  of  his  own 
party.  And  this  was  the  case,  notwithstanding  any 
number  he  might  have  won  of  his  adversary.  Those 
which  he  won  were  delivered  to  his  party  managers. 
The  six  peach-stones  were  placed  in  the  bowl  and 
shaken  by  the  player;  if  five  of  them  came  up  of  one 
color,  either  white  or  black,  it  counted  one,  and  his 
adversary  paid  to  him  the  forfeit,  which  was  one  bean  ; 
the  bean  simply  representing  a  unit  in  counting  the 
game.  On  the  next  throw,  which  the  player  having 
won,  retained,  if  less  than  five  came  up  of  the  same 

3or 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO9UOIS 

>*j 

color,  it  counted  nothing,  and  he  passed  the  bowl  to 
his  adversary.  The  second  player  then  shook  the 
bowl  ;  upon  which,  if  they  all  came  up  of  one  color, 
either  white  or  black,  it  counted  five.  To  pay  this  for 
feit  required  the  whole  outfit  of  the  first  player,  after 
which,  having  nothing  to  pay  with,  he  vacated  his  seat, 
and  was  succeeded  by  another  of  his  own  side,  who  re 
ceived  from  the  bank  the  same  number  of  beans  which 
the  first  had.  The  other  player  followed  his  throw  as 
long  as  he  continued  to  win ;  after  which  he  repassed  the 
bowl  to  his  adversary.  If  a  player  chanced  to  win  five, 
and  his  opponent  had  but  one  left,  this  was  all  he  could 
gain.  In  this  manner  the  game  continued,  with  vary 
ing  fortune,  until  the  beans  were  divided  between  the 
two  sides  in  proportion  to  their  success.  After  this 
the  game  continued  in  the  same  manner  as  before,  the 
outfit  of  each  new  player  being  advanced  by  the  mana 
gers  of  his  own  party  ;  but  as  the  beans  or  counters 
were  now  out  of  sight,  none  but  the  managers  knew 
the  state  of  the  game  with  accuracy.  In  playing  it 
there  were  but  two  winning  throws,  one  of  which 
counted  one  and  the  other  five.  When  one  of  the  par 
ties  had  lost  all  their  beans,  the  game  was  done. 

There  were  some  other  peculiarities  and  variations 
in  this  game  which  would  be  necessary  to  a  full  under 
standing  of  it,  but  sufficient  has  been  given  to  illus 
trate  its  general  character.  As  they  began  to  play  this 
game  about  meridian,  it  often  happened  that  it  was 
necessary  to  take  another  day  for  its  conclusion.  It 
was  made  a  long  game  by  its  constitution,  as  it  was 
carefully  guarded  against  the  extreme  fickleness  of  most 
games  of  chance.  It  so  happens  that  games  of  this 

302 


ENTHUSIASM   FOR    GAMES 

description  do  not  depend  for  their  interest  upon  the 
striking  combinations  involved  in  their  construction. 
This  is  dependent  very  much  upon  practice,  habit,  and 
association.  Oftentimes  the  most  simple  game  in  its 
contrivance  is  the  most  attractive  and  absorbing  to  the 
practiced  player.  This  game,  as  simple  as  it  may  ap 
pear,  was  productive  of  a  great  degree  of  excitement, 
and  when  finally  decided,  the  exultation  of  the  victors 
broke  forth  in  vehement  rejoicings.  Having  intently 
watched,  for  hours,  the  ever-changing  tide  of  the  game, 
when  the  long  suspense  was  over,  and  the  tension  of 
the  mind  was  ended,  its  rebound,  under  the  impulse  of 
victory,  exhibited  itself  in  extravagant  exclamations. 

A  brief  description  of  the  plan  of  these  games  will 
no  more  exhibit  their  hidden  sources  of  entertainment, 
than  a  volume  descriptive  of  chess  would  reveal  the 
fascinations  of  the  game  itself.  These  games  all  depend, 
for  their  interest,  upon  circumstances.  The  Olympic, 
Pythian  and  other  games  of  the  Greeks,  and  the  Apol- 
linarian,  Circensian  and  other  games  of  the  Romans, 
consisted  chiefly,  as  is  well  known,  of  running,  leaping, 
wrestling,  riding,  and  chariot-racing.  Aside  from  the 
last,  they  were  not,  intrinsically,  much  superior  to  the 
games  of  the  Iroquois.  But  in  the  hands  of  the  Greeks, 
especially,  they  were  made  the  most  extraordinary  en 
tertainments  of  the  ancient  world.  Among  the  Iro 
quois,  in  the  celebration  of  their  national  games,  as  far 
as  they  went,  is  to  be  found  the  same  species  of  enthu 
siasm  and  emulation  which  characterized  the  celebra 
tion  of  the  games  of  antiquity.  Although  the  national 
games,  like  the  popular  songs  of  one  people,  may  be 
incapable  of  exciting  the  enthusiasm  or  awakening  the 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

patriotic  spirit  of  another ;  yet  they  are  not,  for  this 
reason,  devoid  of  interest.  If  it  be  asked  what  inter 
est  for  us  can  attach  to  these  games  of  the  Iroquois, 
one  answer  at  least  may  be  given;  —  they  show  that 
the  American  wilderness,  which  we  have  been  taught 
to  pronounce  a  savage  solitude  until  the  white  man 
entered  its  borders,  had  long  been  vocal  in  its  deepest 
seclusions,  with  the  gladness  of  happy  human  hearts. 


3°4 


Chapter  VI 

Indian  Society  —  Ancient  Villages  Stockaded  —  Bark  House  —  Mar 
riage—Passion  of  Love  Unknown  —  Divorce  —  Rights  of  Property  _ 
Hospitality  —  Criminal  Code  —  Faith  of  Treaties—  Use  of  Wampum 
—  Usages  of  War  —  Captives  not  Exchanged  —  Adoption  —  The 
Hunt  —  Indian  Life 

NOTWITHSTANDING  the  simplicity  of 
Indian  life,  and  its  barrenness  of  those  higher 
social  enjoyments  which  pertain  to  refined 
communities,  Indian  society  was  bound  together  by 
permanent  institutions,  governed  by  fixed  laws,  and 
impelled  and  guided  by  well-established  usages  and  cus 
toms.  The  diversified  powers,  motives,  and  restraints 
embraced  within  them,  exercised  an  important  influence 
upon  their  social  life,  and  therefore  they  present  fruit 
ful  and  interesting  subjects  of  investigation.  To  form 
a  judgment  of  the  Indian  character,  which  is  founded 
upon  a  knowledge  of  his  motives  and  principles  of 
action,  he  must  be  seen  in  his  social  relations.  But  it  is 
not  deemed  advisable  to  consider  these  topics  minutely. 
The  Iroquois  resided  in  permanent  villages.  Not 
knowing  the  use  of  wells,  they  fixed  their  residences 
upon  the  banks  of  rivers  and  lakes,  or  in  the  vicinity  of 
copious  springs.  About  the  period  of  the  formation  of 
the  League,  when  they  were  exposed  to  the  inroads 
of  hostile  nations,  and  the  warfare  of  migratory  bands, 
their  villages  were  compact  and  stockaded.  Having 
run  a  trench  several  feet  deep,  around  five  or  ten  acres 


VOL.  I.—  20 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

of  land,  and  thrown  up  the  ground  upon  the  inside, 
they  set  a  continuous  row  of  stakes  or  palisades  in 
this  bank  of  earth,  fixing  them  at  such  an  angle  that 
they  inclined  over  the  trench.  Sometimes  a  village 
was  surrounded  by  a  double,  or  even  triple  row  of 
palisades.  Within  this  enclosure  they  constructed 
their  bark-houses,  and  secured  their  stores.  Around 
it  was  the  village  field,(89)  consisting,  oftentimes,  of 
several  hundred  acres  of  cultivated  land,  which  was 
subdivided  into  planting  lots ;  those  belonging  to 
different  families  being  bounded  by  uncultivated  ridges. 
Nun-da-wa'-o,  at  the  head  of  Canandaigua  lake,  the 
oldest  village  of  the.  Senecas,  was  stockaded  ;  so  also 
were  Ska-has  e'-ga-o  on  the  site  of  Lima,(43)  and  two  or 
three  other  of  their  oldest  towns. 

But  at  the  commencement  of  the  seventeenth  cen 
tury,  which  may  be  called  the  middle  period  of  the 
history  of  the  Iroquois,  when  their  power  had  become 
consolidated,  and  most  of  the  adjacent  nations  had  been 
brought  under  subjection,  the  necessity  of  stockading 
their  villages  in  a  measure  ceased,  and  with  it  the  prac 
tice.  At  the  period  of  the  discovery  of  the  inland 
Iroquois,  about  the  year  1640,*  few,  if  any,  of  the 
villages  of  the  Senecas,  Cayugas,  or  Onondagas  were  sur 
rounded  with  palisades  ;  but  the  Oneidas  and  Mohawks 
continued  to  stockade  their  villages  for  many  years 
afterwards,  in  consequence  of  the  inroads  of  the  French. 
At  this  period,  also,  their  villages  were  compactly  built. 

The  modern  village  was  a  cluster  of  houses,  planted 

1  The  Franciscan  Le  Caron  passed  through  the  country  of  the  Iroquois 
in  1616.  (Bancroft's  Hist.  U.  S.,  iii.  120.)  But  little,  however,  was 
known  of  them  prior  to  1640. 

306 


BARK    HOUSE 

like  the  trees  of  the  forest,  at  irregular  intervals,  and 
over  a  large  area.  No  attempt  was  made  at  a  street, 
or  at  an  arrangement  of  their  houses  in  a  row  ;  two 
houses  seldom  fronting  the  same  line.  They  were 
merely  grouped  together  sufficiently  near  for  a  neigh 
borhood. 

As  their  villages,  at  an  early  day,  were  reckoned  by 
the  number  of  houses,  it  is  important  to  remark  the 
difference  between  the  Ga-no-sote,  or  Bark-house  of 
the  middle  and  the  modern  period,  to  arrive  at  an 
estimate  of  the  number  of  inhabitants.  When  the 
village  was  scattered  over  a  large  area,  the  houses  were 
single,  and  usually  designed  for  one  family;  but  when 
compact,  as  in  ancient  times,  they  were  very  long,  and 
subdivided,  so  as  to  accommodate  a  number  of  families. 
The  long  house  was  generally  from  fifty  to  a  hundred 
and  thirty  feet  in  length,  by  about  sixteen  in  width,x 
with  partitions  at  intervals  of  about  ten  or  twelve  feet, 
or  two  lengths  of  the  body.  Each  apartment  was,  in 
fact,  a  separate  house,  having  a  fire'  in  the  centre,  and 
accommodating  two  families,  one  upon,  each  side  of 
the  fire.  Thus  a  house  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet 
long  would  contain  ten  fires  and  twenty  families. (124) 
A  Mr.  Greenhalgh,  in  1677,  visited  the  Seneca  village 
of  Da-yo-de-hok'-to,  signifying  "  a  bended  creek,"  situ 
ated  upon  a  bend  of  the  Honeoye  outlet,  west  of 
Mendon,  in  the  county  of  Monroe.  Under  the  name 
of  "  Tiotohatton,"  he  thus  speaks  of  it  :  — "  Tioto- 
hatton  lies  on  the  brink  or  edge  of  a  hill  ;  has  not 
much  cleared  ground;  is  near  the  river  Tiotohatton, 
which  signifies  bending.  It  lies  to  the  westward  of 
Canagorah,"  probably  Nun-da-wa'-o,  "about  thirty 

307  • 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

miles,  containing  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  houses, 
being  the  largest  of  all  the  houses  we  saw,  (the  ordinary 
being  from  fifty  to  sixty  feet  long),  with  from  twelve 
to  thirteen  fires  in  one  house.  They  have  good  store 
of  corn,  growing  about  a  mile  to  the  northward  of  the 
town."1  The  Marquis  De  Nonville,  in  1687,  captured 
this,  with  three  other  villages  of  the  Senecas,  at  the  time 
of  his  invasion  of  the  Seneca  territory.  In  the  Acte^ 
executed  at  this  village,  by  which  the  French  took 
formal  possession  of  the  territories  of  the  Seneca-Iro- 
quois,  on  behalf  of  France,  it  is  written  "  Totiakton," 
and  is  called  "  the  largest  of  the  Seneca  villages." 2 
It  is  not  improbable  that  the  largest  villages  of  the 
Iroquois  contained  three  thousand  inhabitants.(GO) 

The  Ga-nd-sote,  or  Bark-house  (see  plate,  I.  3),(124) 
was  a  simple  structure.  When  single,  it  was  about 
twenty  feet  by  fifteen  upon  the  ground,  and  from 
fifteen  to  twenty  feet  high.  The  frame  consisted 
of  upright  poles  firmly  set  in  the  ground,  usually 
five  upon  the  sides,  and  four  at  the  ends,  includ 
ing  those  at  the  corners.  Upon  the  forks  of  these 
poles,  about  ten  feet  from  the  ground,  cross-poles 

1  Documentary   Hist.    New  York,  i.   13.      He  further  states  that  Cana- 
gorah  contained  one   hundred   and  fifty  houses  }   Onondaga,  one    hundred 
and  forty  5    Oneida  village,  one  hundred  ;  ib.  12-13. 

2  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  i.  242.      The  three  other  villages  taken  by  De  Non 
ville    were    Gannagaro,    as    it    is    called    in    the    acte,   or    Ga-o-sa-g'a-o, 
signifying  "  in   the   Basswood  country,11  situated  a  short  distance  south 
east  of  Victor  in  the  county  of  Ontario,  Gannondata  and  Gannongarae, 
one  of  which  was  doubtless  Ga-nun-da'-gwa,  (f  place  selected  for  a  set 
tlement,"  upon  the  site  of  the  present  village  of  Canandaigua.      De  Non 
ville  estimated    the    population    of  the    four  villages  at  fifteen    thousand, 
and   the  Indian  corn   destroyed    by   his   troops  at  four  hundred  thousand 
minots.    (Doc.  Hist.,  i.  239.)      Doubtless,  both   of  these    estimates   were 
exaggerations. 

308 


BARK    HOUSE 

were  secured  horizontally,  to  which  the  rafters,  also 
poles,  but  more  numerous  and  slender,  were  adjusted. 
The  rafters  were  strengthened  with  transverse  poles, 
and  the  whole  were  usually  so  arranged  as  to  form 
an  arching  roof.  After  the  frame  was  thus  com 
pleted,  it  was  sided  up,  and  shingled  with  red  elrn 
or  ash  bark,  the  rough  side  out.  The  bark  was 
flattened  and  dried,  and  then  cut  in  the  form  of 
boards.  To  hold  these  bark  boards  firmly  in  their 
places,  another  set  of  poles,  corresponding  with  those 
in  the  frame,  were  placed  on  the  outside ;  and  by 
means  of  splints  and  bark  rope  fastenings,  the  boards 
were  secured  horizontally  between  them.  It  usually 
required  four  lengths  of  boards,  and  four  courses  from 
the  ground  to  the  rafters  to  cover  a  side,  as  they  were 
lapped  at  the  ends,  as  well  as  clapboarded  ;  and  also  in 
the  same  proportion  for  the  ends.  In  like  manner, 
the  roof  was  covered  with  bark  boards,  smaller  in  size, 
with  the  rough  side  out,  and  the  grain  running  up  and 
down  ;  the  boards  being  stitched  through  and  through 
with  fastenings,  and  thus  held  between  the  frames  of 
poles,  as  on  the  sides.  In  the  centre  of  the  roof  was 
an  opening  for  the  smoke,  the  fire  being  upon  the 
ground  in  the  centre  of  the  house,  and  the  smoke 
ascending  without  the  guidance  of  a  chimney.  At  the 
two  ends  of  the  house  were  doors,  either  of  bark  hung 
upon  hinges  of  wood,  or  of  deer  or  bear  skins  sus 
pended  before  the  opening;  and  however  long  the 
house,  or  whatever  the  number  of  fires,  these  were  the 
only  entrances.  Over  one  of  these  doors  was  cut  the 
tribal  device  of  the  head  of  the  family.  Within,  upon 
the  two  sides,  were  arranged  wide  seats,  also  of  bark 

309 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

boards,  about  two  feet  from  the  ground,  well  sup 
ported  underneath,  and  reaching  the  entire  length  of 
the  house.  Upon  these  they  spread  their  mats  of 
skins,  and  also  their  blankets,  using  them  as  seats 
by  day  and  couches  at  night.  Similar  berths  were 
constructed  on  each  side,  about  five  feet  above  these, 
and  secured  to  the  frame  of  the  house,  thus  furnishing 
accommodations  for  the  family.  Upon  cross-poles,  near 
the  roof,  was  hung,  in  bunches,  braided  together  by  the 
husks,  their  winter  supply  of  corn.  Charred  and  dried 
corn,  and  beans  were  generally  stored  in  bark  barrels, 
and  laid  away  in  corners.  Their  implements  for  the 
chase,  domestic  utensils,  weapons,  articles  of  apparel, 
and  miscellaneous  notions,1  were  stowed  away,  and 
hung  up,  whenever  an  unoccupied  place  was  discovered. 
A  house  of  this  description  would  accommodate  a  fam 
ily  of  eight,  with  the  limited  wants  of  the  Indian,  and 
afford  shelter  for  their  necessary  stores,  making  a  not 
uncomfortable  residence.  After  they  had  learned  the 
use  of  the  axe,  they  began  to  substitute  houses  of  hewn 
logs,  but  they  constructed  them  after  the  ancient 
model.  Many  of  the  houses  of  their  modern  villages 
in  the  valley  of  the  Genesee  were  of  this  description. 

There  was  another  species  of  house  occasionally 
constructed,  either  for  temporary  use  or  for  a  small 
family.  It  was  triangular  at  the  base,  the  frame  con 
sisting  of  three  poles  on  a  side,  gathered  at  the  top, 
but  with  space  sufficient  between  them  for  a  chimney 
opening.  They  were  sided  up  in  the  same  manner  as 
the  rectangular  Gd-no'-sote.  During  the  hunt,  bark- 

1  For  some  account  of  their  fabrics,  implements  and  utensils,  see 
Book  iii.  ch.  i. 

310 


MARRIAGE 

houses  of  this  description  were  often  erected  as  a 
shelter. 

The  Iroquois  were  accustomed  to  bury  their  sur 
plus  corn,  and  also  their  charred  green  corn,  in 
caches,  in  which  the  former  would  preserve  uninjured 
through  the  year,  and  the  latter  for  a  much  longer  pe 
riod.  They  excavated  a  pit,  made  a  bark  bottom 
and  sides,  and  having  deposited  their  corn  within  it, 
a  bark  roof,  water  tight,  was  constructed  over  it, 
and  the  whole  covered  up  with  earth.  Pits  of  charred 
corn  are  still  found  near  their  ancient  settlements. 
Cured  venison  and  other  meats  were  buried  in  the 
same  manner,  except  that  the  bark  repository  was 
lined  with  deer-skins. 

In  this  connection,  the  marriage  customs  of  the 
Iroquois  naturally  suggest  themselves.  They  exhibit 
novel,  if  not  distinctive  features.  Marriage  was  not 
founded  upon  the  affections,  which  constitute  the 
only  legitimate  basis  of  this  relation  in  civilized  soci 
ety,  but  was  regulated  exclusively  as  a  matter  of 
physical  necessity.  It  was  not  even  a  contract  between 
the  parties  to  be  married,  but  substantially  between 
their  mothers,  acting  oftentimes  under  the  sugges 
tions  of  the  matrons  and  wise-men  of  the  tribes  to 
which  the  parties  respectively  belonged.  In  a  gen 
eral  sense,  therefore,  the  subject  of  marriage  was  un 
der  the  supervision  of  the  older  members  of  each  tribe  ; 
but  practically,  it  was  under  maternal  control.  With 
the  improvement  and  elevation  of  the  race,  changes 
were  gradually  introduced  in  relation  to  the  marriage 
able  age,  and  the  disparity  of  age  between  the  sexes. 
In  ancient  times,  the  young  warrior  was  always 

3" 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I R 0 ^U O  I S 

united  to  a  woman  several  years  his  senior,  on  the 
supposition  that  he  needed  a  companion  experienced 
in  the  affairs  of  life.  The  period  was  also  deferred  on 
his  part  until  twenty-five,  that  he  might  first  become 
inured  to  the  hardships  of  the  war-path  and  of  the  chase, 
before  his  freedom  was  curtailed  and  his  responsibilities 
were  increased  by  the  cares  of  a  family,  light  as  these 
cares  seem  to  have  been  under  their  social  system. 
Thus,  it  often  happened  that  the  young  warrior  at 
twenty-five  was  married  to  a  woman  of  forty,  and  often 
times  a  widow  ;  while  the  widower  at  sixty  was  joined 
to  the  maiden  at  twenty.  But  these  were  their  primi 
tive  customs  ;  the  ages  of  the  parties  afterwards  drew 
nearer  to  an  equality,  and  the  marriageable  age  was, 
in  time  reduced  to  twenty,  and  even  below  it. 

When  the  mother  considered  her  son  of  a  suitable 
age  for  marriage,  she  looked  about  her  for  a  maiden, 
who,  from  report  or  acquaintance,  she  judged  would 
accord  with  him  in  disposition  and  temperament.  A 
negotiation  between  the  mothers  ensued,  and  a  conclu 
sion  was  speedily  reached.  Sometimes  the  near  rela 
tives  and  the  elderly  persons  of  the  tribes  to  which  each 
belonged  were  consulted  ;  but  their  opinions  were  of 
no  avail,  independently  of  the  wishes  of  the  mothers 
themselves.  Not  the  least  singular  feature  of  the 
transaction  was  the  entire  ignorance  in  which  the 
parties  remained  of  the  pending  negotiation  ;  the  first 
intimation  they  received  being  the  announcement  of 
their  marriage,  without,  perhaps,  ever  having  known 
or  seen  each  other.  Remonstrance  or  objection  on 
their  part  was  never  attempted ;  they  received  each 
other  as  the  gift  of  their  parents.  As  obedience  to 

3*2 


PASSION   OF  LOVE    UNKNOWN 

them  in  all  their  requirements  was  inculcated  as  a  para 
mount  duty,  and  disobedience  was  followed  by  disown- 
ment,  the  operative  force  of  custom,  in  addition  to 
these  motives,  was  sufficient  to  secure  acquiescence. 
The  Indian  father  never  troubled  himself  concern 
ing  the  marriage  of  his  children.  To  interfere  would 
have  been  an  invasion  of  female  immunities  ;  and  these, 
whatever  they  were,  were  as  sacredly  regarded  by  him, 
as  he  was  inflexible  in  enforcing  respect  for  his  own. 

When  the  fact  of  marriage  had  been  communicated 
to  the  parties,  a  simple  ceremonial  completed  the  trans 
action.  On  the  day  following  the  announcement,  the 
maiden  was  conducted  by  her  mother,  accompanied  by 
a  few  female  friends,  to  the  home  of  her  intended 
husband.  She  carried  in  her  hand  a  few  cakes  of  un 
leavened  corn  bread,  which  she  presented  on  entering 
the  house,  to  her  mother-in-law,  as  an  earnest  of  her 
usefulness  and  of  her  skill  in  the  domestic  arts. 
After  receiving  it,  the  mother  of  the  young  warrior 
returned  a  present  of  venison,  or  other  fruit  of  the 
chase,  to  the  mother  of  the  bride,  as  an  earnest  of  his 
ability  to  provide  for  his  household.  This  exchange 
of  presents  ratified  and  concluded  the  contract,  which 
bound  the  new  pair  together  in  the  marriage  relation. 
Thus  simple  was  the  formation  of  the  nuptial  bond 
among  our  primitive  inhabitants. (99) 

From  the  very  nature  of  the  marriage  institution 
among  the  Iroquois,  it  follows  that  the  passion  of  love 
was  entirely  unknown  among  them.  Affection  after 
marriage  would  naturally  spring  up  between  the  parties 
from  association,  from  habit,  and  from  mutual  depen 
dence ;  but  of  that  marvellous  passion  which  origi- 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO9UOIS 

Vj 

nates  in  a  higher  development  of  the  powers  of  the 
human  heart,  and  is  founded  upon  a  cultivation  of  the 
affections  between  the  sexes,  they  were  entirely  ignor 
ant.  In  their  temperaments,  they  were  below  this 
passion  in  its  simplest  forms.  Attachments  between 
individuals,  or  the  cultivation  of  each  other's  affections 
before  marriage,  was  entirely  unknown  ;  so  also  were 
promises  of  marriage.  The  fact  that  individuals  were 
united  in  this  relation,  without  their  knowledge  or  con 
sent,  and  perhaps  without  even  a  previous  acquaint 
ance,  illustrates  and  confirms  this  position.  This 
invasion  of  the  romances  of  the  novelist,  and  of  the 
conceits  of  the  poet,  upon  the  attachments  which  sprang 
up  in  the  bosom  of  Indian  society,  may,  perhaps, 
divest  the  mind  of  some  pleasing  impressions  ;  but 
these  are  entirely  inconsistent  with  the  marriage  in 
stitution  as  it  existed  among  them,  and  with  the  facts 
of  their  social  history. 

Intercourse  between  the  sexes  was  restrained  by  cir 
cumstances  and  by  inclination.  Indian  habits  and 
modes  of  life  divided  the  people  socially  into  two  great 
classes,  male  and  female.  The  male  sought  the  con 
versation  and  society  of  the  male,  and  they  went  forth 
together  for  amusement,  or  for  the  severer  duties  of 
life.  In  the  same  manner  the  female  sought  the  com 
panionship  of  her  own  sex.  Between  the  sexes  there 
was  but  little  sociality,  as  this  term  is  understood  in 
polished  society.  Such  a  thing  as  formal  visiting  was 
entirely  unknown.  When  the  unmarried  of  opposite 
sexes  were  casually  brought  together,  there  was  little 
or  no  conversation  between  them.  No  attempts  by 
the  unmarried  to  please  or  gratify  each  other  by  acts 


DIVORCE 

of  personal  attention,  were  ever  made.  At  the  season 
of  councils  and  religious  festivals,  there  was  more  of 
actual  intercourse  and  sociality,  than  at  any  other  time  ; 
but  this  was  confined  to  the  dance,  and  was,  in  itself, 
limited.  A  solution  of  this  singular  problem  is,  in 
part,  to  be  found  in  the  absence  of  equality  in  the 
sexes.  The  Indian  regarded  woman  as  the  inferior, 
the  dependent,  and  the  servant  of  man,  and  from  nur 
ture  and  habit,  she  actually  considered  herself  to  be  so. 
This  absence  of  equality  in  position,  in  addition  to  the 
force  of  custom,  furnishes  a  satisfactory  explanation  of 
many  of  the  peculiarities  characteristic  of  Indian  society. 
In  the  cultivation  of  the  affections  between  the  sexes, 
and  in  the  development  of  kindred  sentiments,  is  to 
be  found  the  origin  of  the  amenities  and  the  mitigation 
of  the  asperities  of  life. 

In  intimate  connection  with  the  subject  of  marriage, 
is  that  of  divorce.  Polygamy  was  forbidden  among 
the  Iroquois,  and  never  became  a  practice  ; (9(  but 
the  right  to  put  away  the  wife,  or  of  voluntary  separa 
tion,  was  allowed  to  all.(10(  The  mothers  of  the 
married  pair  were  responsible  for  their  concord  and 
harmony.  If  differences  arose  between  them,  it  be 
came  their  duty  to  effect  a  reconciliation,  and  by  advice 
and  counsel,  to  guard  against  a  repetition  of  the  diffi 
culty.  But  if  disturbances  continued  to  follow  recon 
ciliations,  and  their  dispositions  were  found  to  be  too 
incongruous  for  domestic  peace,  a  separation  followed, 
either  by  mutual  consent  or  the  absolute  refusal  of  one 
of  the  parties  longer  to  recognize  the  marriage  relation. 
As  such  a  rupture  in  ancient  times  was  regarded  as 
discreditable  to  the  parties,  and  brought  them  under 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

the  pressure  of  public  censure,  they  were  then  unfre- 
quent.  In  later  days,  however,  the  inviolability  of 
the  nuptial  contract  was  less  sacredly  regarded,  and 
the  most  frivolous  reasons,  or  the  caprice  of  the  mo 
ment,  were  sufficient  for  breaking  the  marriage  tie. 

The  husband  and  wife  were  never  of  the  same  tribe, 
as  has  been  elsewhere  more  fully  explained ;  and  the 
children  were  of  the  tribe  of  their  mother.  No  right 
in  the  father  to  the  custody  of  their  persons,  or  to 
their  nurture,  was  recognized.  As,  after  separation, 
he  gave  himself  no  farther  trouble  concerning  them, 
nor  interested  himself  in  their  future  welfare,  they  be 
came  estranged  as  well  as  separated.  Parental  affection 
was  much  weaker,  as  is  usually  the  fact,  on  the  part  of 
the  father  than  on  that  of  the  mother.  The  Indian 
father  seldom  caressed  his  children,  or  by  any  outward 
acts  manifested  the  least  solicitude  for  their  welfare ; 
but  when  his  sons  grew  up  to  maturity,  he  became 
more  attached  to  them,  making  them  his  companions 
in  the  hunt  and  upon  the  war-path.  The  care  of  their 
infancy  and  childhood  was  intrusted  to  the  watchful 
affection  of  the  mother  alone. 

By  the  laws  of  the  Iroquois,  the  nationality  as  well 
as  the  tribe  of  the  individual  was  never  lost,  or  merged 
in  another.  If  a  Cayuga  woman  married  a  Seneca,  her 
children  were  Cayugas,  and  her  descendants  in  the 
female  line,  to  the  latest  posterity,  continued  to  be 
Cayugas,  although  they  resided  with  the  Senecas,  and 
by  intermarriage  with  them  had  lost  nearly  every  par 
ticle  of  Cayuga  blood.  In  the  same  manner,  if  a  Mo 
hawk  married  a  Delaware  woman,  her  children  were 
not  only  Delawares,  but  aliens,  unless  they  were  regu- 

316 


RIGHTS    OF    PROPERTT 

larly  adopted  and  christened  as  Mohawks,  and  the  fact 
of  adoption  was  announced  in  open  council. 

Property,  both  in  amount  and  variety,  was  exceed 
ingly  limited  ;  as  would  naturally  be  expected  among 
a  people  living  a  hunter  and  semi-agricultural  life,  and 
making  a  mere  subsistence  the  limit  of  their  wants  and 
of  their  ambition.  But  inconsiderable  as  it  was  in  the 
aggregate,  it  was  held,  and  subject  to  distribution,  under 
fixed  laws.  Having  neither  currency  nor  trade,  nor 
the  love  of  gain,  their  property  consisted  merely  of 
planting  lots,  orchards,  houses,  implements  of  the  chase, 
weapons,  articles  of  apparel,  domestic  utensils,  per 
sonal  ornaments,  stores  of  grain,  skins  of  animals,  and 
those  miscellaneous  fabrics  which  the  necessities  of  life 
led  them  to  invent.  The  rights  of  property,  of  both 
husband  and  wife,  were  continued  distinct  during  the 
existence  of  the  marriage  relation  ;  the  wife  holding, 
and  controlling  her  own,  the  same  as  her  husband,  and 
in  case  of  separation,  taking  it  with  her.  No  individ 
ual  could  obtain  the  absolute  title  to  land,  as  that  was 
vested  by  the  laws  of  the  Iroquois  in  all  the  people  ; 
but  he  could  reduce  unoccupied  lands  to  cultivation, 
to  any  extent  he  pleased;  and  so  long  as  he  continued 
to  use  them,  his  right  to  their  enjoyment  was  protected 
and  secured.  He  could  also  sell  his  improvements,  or 
bequeath  them  to  his  wife  or  children.  If  the  wife, 
either  before  or  after  marriage,  inherited  orchards,  or 
planting  lots,  or  reduced  land  to  cultivation,  she  could 
dispose  of  them  at  her  pleasure,  and  in  case  of  her 
death  they  were  inherited,  together  with  her  other  effects, 
by  her  children.  The  rule  of  descent,  on  the  death 
of  the  father,  was  different.  His  children,  not  being 


LEAG  U  E    OF    THE    I R  O  Q  U  O  I S 

of  his  tribe,  were  out  of  the  line  of  inheritance  ;  for  by 
their  laws,  property  could  not,  by  descent,  pass  out  of 
the  tribe.  If  he  gave  his  planting  lots,  or  any  articles 
of  property  to  his  wife  or  children,  in  the  presence  of 
a  witness,  they  were  allowed  to  hold  them.  But  if  he 
made  no  disposition  of  his  effects,  they  were  handed 
over  upon  his  decease,  to  the  near  relatives  in  his  own 
tribe,  who  usually  assigned  to  the  family  the  house, 
and  such  other  articles  as  they  deemed  advisable,  and 
distributed  the  residue  among  themselves,  as  personal 
mementos  of  the  deceased. (101) 

One  of  the  most  attractive  features  of  Indian  society 
was  the  spirit  of  hospitality  by  which  it  was  pervaded. 
Perhaps  no  people  ever  carried  this  principle  to  the 
same  degree  of  universality,  as  did  the  Iroquois. 
Their  houses  were  not  only  open  to  each  other,  at  all 
hours  of  the  day  and  of  the  night,  but  also  to  the 
wayfarer  and  the  stranger.  Such  entertainment  as 
their  means  afforded  was  freely  spread  before  him, 
with  words  of  kindness  and  of  welcome.  Not  un- 
frequently  one  of  these  houses  contained  from  ten  to 
twenty  families,  all  bound  together  by  the  nearer  ties 
of  relationship,  and  constituting  in  effect  one  family. 
They  carried  the  principle  of  "living  in  common  "  to 
its  full  extent.  Whatever  was  taken  in  the  chase,  or 
raised  in  the  fields,  or  gathered  in  its  natural  state  by 
any  member  of  the  united  families,  enured  to  the 
benefit  of  all,  for  their  stores  of  every  description 
were  common.  They  had  regular  hours  for  cooking 
through  the  whole  establishment,  and  whatever  was 
prepared  was  free  to  all.  The  Indian  had  no  regular 
meal  after  the  morning  repast,  but  he  allayed  his 

318 


HOSPITALITY 

appetite  whenever  the  occasion  offered.  As  they  used 
no  tables  in  ancient  times,  they  took  their  food  sep 
arately,  and  whenever  it  could  be  done  with  the  least 
trouble,  the  males  first,  and  the  females  afterwards. 
The  care  of  the  appetite  was  left  entirely  with  the 
women,  as  the  Indian  never  asked  for  food.  When 
ever  the  husband  returned,  at  any  hour  of  the  day,  it 
was  the  duty  and  the  custom  of  the  wife  to  set  food 
before  him.  If  a  neighbor  or  a  stranger  entered  her 
dwelling,  a  dish  of  hommony,  or  whatever  else  she 
had  prepared,  was  immediately  placed  before  him, 
with  an  invitation  to  partake.  It  made  no  difference 
at  what  hour  of  the  day,  or  how  numerous  the  calls, 
this  courtesy  was  extended  to  every  comer,  and  was 
the  first  act  of  attention  bestowed.  This  custom  was 
universal,  in  fact  one  of  the  laws  of  their  social  system; 
and  a  neglect  on  the  part  of  the  wife  to  observe  it,  was 
regarded  both  as  a  breach  of  hospitality,  and  as  a 
personal  affront.  A  neighbor,  or  a  stranger,  calling 
from  house  to  house,  through  an  Indian  village,  would 
be  thus  entertained  at  every  dwelling  he  entered.  If 
the  appetite  of  the  guest  had  thus  been  fully  satisfied, 
he  was  yet  bound  in  courtesy  to  taste  of  the  dish  pre 
sented,  and  to  return  the  customary  acknowledgment, 
Hi-ne-a-weh)"  I  thank  you  ;"  an  omission  to  do  either 
being  esteemed  a  violation  of  the  usages  of  life.  A 
stranger  would  be  thus  entertained  without  charge,  as 
long  as  he  was  pleased  to  remain  ;  and  a  relation  was 
entitled  to  a  home  among  any  of  his  kindred,  while  he 
was  disposed  to  claim  it.  Under  the  operation  of  such 
a  simple  and  universal  law  of  hospitality,  hunger  and 
destitution  were  entirely  unknown  among  them.  This 


LEAGUE    OF     THE    IRO^UOIS 

method  of  dealing  with  the  human  appetite  strikes  the 
mind  as  novel  ;  but  it  was  founded  upon  a  principle 
of  brotherhood,  and  of  social  intercourse,  not  much 
unlike  the  common  table  of  the  Spartans.  The 
abounding  supplies  of  corn  yielded,  with  light  culti 
vation,  by  their  fruitful  fields,  and  the  simple  fare  of 
the  Indian,  rendered  the  prevailing  hospitality  an  in 
considerable  burden.  It  rested  chiefly  upon  the  in 
dustry,  and  therefore  upon  the  natural  kindness  of 
the  Indian  woman  ;  who,  by  the  cultivation  of  the 
maize,  and  their  other  plants,  and  the  gathering  of 
the  wild  fruits,  provided  the  principal  part  of  their 
subsistence,(85)  for  the  warrior  despised  the  toil  of 
husbandry,  and  held  all  labor  beneath  him.(8G)  But 
it  was  in  exact  accordance  with  the  unparalleled  gen 
erosity  of  the 'Indian  character.  He  would  surrender 
his  dinner  to  feed  the  hungry,  vacate  his  bed  to  re 
fresh  the  weary,  and  give  up  his  apparel  to  clothe  the 
naked.  No  test  of  friendship  was  too  severe,  no 
sacrifice  to  repay  a  favor  too  great,  no  fidelity  to  an 
engagement  too  inflexible  for  the  Indian  character. 
With  an  innate  knowledge  of  the  freedom  and  the 
dignity  of  man,  he  has  exhibited  the  noblest  virtues 
of  the  heart,  and  the  kindest  deeds  of  humanity  in 
those  sylvan  retreats,  which  we  are  wont  to  look 
back  upon  as  vacant  and  frightful  solitudes.1 

1  Canassatego,  a  distinguished  Onondaga  chief,  who  flourished  about 
the  middle  of  the  last  century,  thus  cuttingly  contrasted  the  hospitality  of 
the  Iroquois  with  that  of  the  whites,  in  a  conversation  with  Conraft 
Weiser,  an  Indian  interpreter.  "  You  know  our  practice.  If  a  white 
man,  in  travelling  through  our  country,  enters  one  of  our  cabins,  we  all 
treat  him  as  I  do  you.  We  dry  him  if  he  is  wet,  we  warm  him  if  he  is 
cold,  and  give  him  meat  and  drink  that  he  may  allay  his  hunger  and  thirst; 

320 


CRIMINAL    CODE 

In  their  subsistence  there  was  but  a  limited  variety 
from  the  necessity  of  the  case.  Their  principal  arti 
cles  of  food  were  cracked  corn,  and  skinned  corn 
hommony,  two  or  three  varieties  of  corn  bread,  veni 
son  and  other  game,  soups,  succotash,  charred  and 
dried  green  corn  prepared  in  different  ways,  wild 
fruit,  ground  nuts  (apios  tuber osa),  resembling  wild 
potatoes,  beans  and  squashes.  These  were  the  staples 
of  their  consumption,  furnishing  a  considerable  diver 
sity  of  dishes,  but  a  limited  range  to  the  appetite. 
They  had  also  several  kinds  of  tea.  A  favorite 
beverage  was  made  from  the  tips  of  hemlock  boughs 
boiled  in  water,  and  seasoned  with  maple  sugar.(90) 
Maple  tea  was  prepared  by  boiling  sap,  and  season 
ing  it  with  sassafras  root ;  and  spice  tea,  by  steeping 
a  species  of  wild  spice. 

Crimes  and  offences  were  so  unfrequent  under  their 
social  system,  that  the  Iroquois  can  scarcely  be  said 
to  have  had  a  criminal  code.  Yet  there  were  certain 
misdemeanors  which  fell  under  the  judicial  cognizance 
of  the  sachems,  and  were  punished  by  them  in  pro 
portion  to  their  magnitude.  Witchcraft  was  punish 
able  with  death.  Any  person  could  take  the  life 
of  a  witch  when  discovered  in  the  act.  If  this  was 
not  done,  a  council  was  called,  and  the  witch  arraigned 
before  it,  in  the  presence  of  the  accuser.  A  full 
confession,  with  a  promise  of  amendment,  secured  a 
discharge.  But  if  the  accusation  was  denied,  witnesses 

and  we  spread  soft  furs  for  him  to  rest  and  sleep  on.  We  demand 
nothing  in  return.  But  if  I  go  into  a  white  man's  house  at  Albany,  and 
ask  for  victuals  arid  drink,  they  say,  '  Where  is  your  money  ?  '  And  if  I 
have  none,  they  say,  '  Get  out, you  Indian  dog.''  ' 

VOL.  I. —  21  321 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

were  called  and  examined  concerning  the  circumstances 
of  the  case ;  and  if  they  established  the  charge  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  council,  which  they  rarely  failed  to 
do,  condemnation  followed,  with  a  sentence  of  death. 
The  witch  was  then  delivered  over  to  such  execu 
tioners  as  volunteered  for  the  purpose,  and  by  them 
was  led  away  to  punishment.  After  the  decision  of 
the  council,  the  relatives  of  the  witch  gave  him  up  to 
his  doom  without  a  murmur. 

Adultery  was  punished  by  whipping  ;  but  the  pun 
ishment  was  inflicted  upon  the  woman  alone,  who 
was  supposed  to  be  the  only  offender.  A  council 
passed  upon  the  question,  and  if  the  charge  was 
sustained,  they  ordered  her  to  be  publicly  whipped 
by  persons  appointed  for  the  purpose.  This  was 
the  ancient  custom,  when  such  transgressions  were 
exceedingly  rare. 

The  greatest  of  all  human  crimes,  murder,  was 
punished  with  death  ;  but  the  act  was  open  to  con 
donation.  Unless  the  family  were  appeased,  the 
murderer,  as  with  the  ancient  Greeks,  was  gfven  up 
to  their  private  vengeance.  They  could  take  his 
life  whenever  they  found  him,  even  after  the  lapse 
of  years,  without  being  held  accountable.  A  present 
of  white  wampum,  sent  on  the  part  of  the  murderer 
to  the  family  of  his  victim,  when  accepted,  forever 
obliterated  and  wiped  out  the  memory  of  the  trans 
action.00^  Immediately  on  the  commission  of  a 
murder,  the  affair  was  taken  up  by  the  tribes  to  which 
the  parties  belonged,  and  strenuous  efforts  were  made 
to  effect  a  reconciliation,  lest  private  retaliation  should 
lead  to  disastrous  consequences.  If  the  criminal  be- 

322 


CRIMINAL   CODE 

longed  to  one  of  the  first  four  tribes,  and  the  deceased 
to  one  of  the  second  four,  these  tribes  assembled 
in  separate  councils,(57)  to  inquire  into  all  the  facts 
of  the  case.  The  question  of  the  guilt  or  innocence 
of  the  accused  was  generally  an  easy  matter  to  de 
termine,  when  the  consequences  of  guilt  were  open 
to  condonation.  The  first  council  then  ascertained 
whether  the  offender  was  willing  to  confess  his  crime, 
and  to  make  atonement.  If  he  was,  the  council  im 
mediately  sent  a  belt  of  white  wampum,  in  his  name, 
to  the  other  council,  which  contained  a  message  to 
that  effect.  The  latter  then  endeavored  to  pacify  the 
family  of  the  deceased,  to  quiet  their  excitement,  and 
to  induce  them  to  accept  the  wampum  in  condonation. 
If  this  was  not  sent  in  due  time,  or  the  family  resisted 
all  persuasions  to  receive  it,  then  their  revenge  was 
allowed  to  take  its  course.  Had  it  chanced  that  both 
parties  belonged  to  one  of  the  four  brother  tribes,  a 
council  of  this  division  alone  would  convene,  to  at 
tempt  an  adjustment  among  themselves.  If,  how 
ever,  the  family  continued  implacable,  the  further 
interference  of  mutual  friends  was  given  over,  leaving 
the  question  to  be  settled  between  the  murderer  and 
the  kindred  of  his  victim,  according  to  the  ancient 
usage.  If  the  belt  of  wampum  was  received  before 
the  avenger  had  been  appointed,  and  had  left  the 
lodge  on  his  mission,  it  was  usually  accepted  as  a 
condonation,  but  if  he  had  gone  forth,  the  time  for 
reparation  had  passed.  The  family  then  either  took 
upon  themselves  jointly  the  obligation  of  taking  what 
they  deemed  a  just  retribution,  or  appointed  an 
avenger,  who  resolved  never  to  rest  until  life  had 

323 


LEAGUE    OF    THE   IRO^UOIS 

answered  for  life.  In  such  cases,  the  murderer 
usually  fled.  As  all  quarrels  were  generally  recon 
ciled  by  the  relatives  of  the  parties,  long-cherished 
animosities,  and  consequently  homicides,  were  unfre- 
quent  in  ancient  times.  The  present  of  white  wam 
pum  was  not  in  the  nature  of  a  compensation  for  the 
life  of  the  deceased,  but  of  a  regretful  confession  of 
the  crime,  with  a  petition  for  forgiveness.  It  was  a 
peace-offering,  the  acceptance  of  which  was  pressed 
by  mutual  friends,  and  under  such  influences  that  a 
reconciliation  was  usually  effected,  except,  perhaps, 
in  aggravated  cases  of  premeditated  murder. 

Theft,  the  most  despicable  of  human  crimes,  was 
scarcely  known  among  them.  In  the  days  of  their 
primitive  simplicity,  a  mercenary  thought  had  not 
entered  the  Indian  mind.  After  the  commencement 
of  their  intercourse  with  the  whites,  the  distribution 
of  presents  and  of  ardent  spirits  among  them,  and 
the  creation  of  new  kinds  of  property  by  the  pur 
suits  of  trade,  so  far  corrupted  the  habits  of  the 
Indian,  that  in  some  instances  the  vagrant  and  in 
temperate  were  led  to  the  commission  of  this  offence. 
But  in  justice  to  them  it  must  be  acknowledged, 
that  no  people  ever  possessed  a  higher  sense  of  honor 
and  self-respect  in  this  particular,  or  looked  down 
with  greater  disdain  upon  this  shameful  practice, 
than  did  the  Iroquois.  To  this  day,  among  their 
descendants,  this  offence  is  almost  unknown.  No 
locks,  or  bolts,  or  private  repositories  were  ever  neces 
sary  for  the  protection  of  property  among  them 
selves.  The  lash  of  public  indignation,  the  severest 
punishment  known  to  the  red  man,  was  the  only 

324 


THE   " FIRE-HEATER' 

penalty    attached  to   this    dereliction    from    the    path 
of  integrity. 

These  were  the  four  principal  crimes  against  so 
ciety  among  our  primitive  inhabitants.  The  intro 
duction  of  ardent  spirits  among  them,  in  modern 
times,  has  changed  the  face  of  Indian  society,  and 
proved  the  fruitful  source  of  all  their  calamities  ; 
aggravating  those  disorders  which  were  incident  to 
their  social  system,  and  introducing  new  ones  entirely 
unknown  in  the  days  of  their  sylvan  independence. 
Against  this  infamous  traffic,  their  wise  and  good 
men,  from  the  earliest  period  of  their  intercourse 
with  us,  have  put  forth  incessant  but  unavailing  pro 
testations.  The  power  of  self-control,  in  this  partic 
ular,  was  much  weaker  with  the  red  man  than  the 
white ;  and  the  consequences  of  indulgence  more 
lamentable  and  destructive.  The  "  fire-water,"  as 
they  have  fitly  termed  it,  has  been  a  more  invincible 
and  devouring  enemy  than  civilization  itself,  to  both 
of  which  causes,  about  in  equal  degrees,  they  owe 
their  displacement.  It  filled  their  villages  with  va 
grancy,  violence  and  bloodshed  :  it  invaded  the  peace 
of  the  domestic  fireside,  stimulated  the  fiercest  pas 
sions,  introduced  disease,  contention  and  strife  ;  thus 
wasting  them  away  by  violence,  poverty  and  sickness, 
and  by  the  casualties  of  hunger  and  cold.  If  there  is 
any  one  act  in  our  past  intercourse  with  the  Iroquois, 
for  which  we  are  more  reprehensible  than  another,  it 
was  the  permission,  short  of  the  penalty  of  hanging, 
of  this  most  nefarious  and  inhuman  traffic.  A  Mohawk 
chief,  in  1754,  thus  addressed  the  governor  of  the 
province  of  New  York  upon  this  subject :  "  There  is 

325 


LEAGUE    OF    THE   IROQUOIS 

an  affair  about  which  our  hearts  tremble ;  this  is  the 
selling  of  rum  in  our  castles.  It  destroys  many  both 
of  the  old  and  young  people.  We  request  of  all  the 
governors  here  present,  that  it  may  be  forbidden  to 
carry  it  among  any  of  the  Five  Nations."  About 
the  same  time  a  representation  was  made  to  the  Brit 
ish  government,  as  follows  :  "  Thev  are  supplied  with 
rum  by  the  traders,  in  vast  and  almost  incredible 
quantities,  the  laws  of  the  colonies  now  in  force  being 
insufficient  to  restrain  the  supply  ;  and  the  Indians 
of  every  nation  are  frequently  drunk,  and  abused 
in  their  trade,  and  their  affections  thereby  alienated 
from  the  English.  They  often  wound  and  murder 
each  other  in  their  liquor,  and  to  avoid  revenge  flee 
to  the  French  ;  and  perhaps  more  have  been  lost  by 
these  means  than  by  the  French  artifices."2 

The  love  of  truth  was  another  marked  trait  of 
the  Indian  character.  This  inborn  sentiment  flour 
ished  in  the  period  of  their  highest  prosperity,  in 
all  the  freshness  of  its  primeval  purity.  On  all  oc 
casions,  and  at  whatever  peril,  the  Iroquois  spoke 
the  truth  without  fear  and  without  hesitation.  Dis 
simulation  was  not  an  Indian  habit.  In  fact,  the 
language  of  the  Iroquois  does  not  admit  of  double 
speaking,  or  of  the  perversion  of  the  words  of  the 
speaker.  It  is  simple  and  direct;  not  admitting  of 
those  shades  of  meaning  and  those  nice  discriminations 
which  pertain  to  polished  languages.  Subsequent  to 
their  discovery,  in  their  intercourse  with  the  whites, 
their  native  truthfulness  was  sometimes  corrupted  by 
traffic  and  intemperance,  but,  as  a  people,  they  have 

1   Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  ii.  591.  2  Ib.,  ii.  610. 

326 


FAITH   OF   TREATIES 

preserved  to  this  day  the  same  elevation  of  sentiment 
in  this  particular  which  characterized  their  ancestors. 

To  the  faith  of  treaties  the  Iroquois  adhered  with 
unwavering  fidelity.  Having  endured  the  severest 
trials  of  political  disaster,  this  faith  furnishes  one  of 
the  proudest  monuments  of  their  national  integrity. 
They  held  fast  to  the  "  covenant  chain "  with  the 
British  until  they  were  themselves  deserted,  and  their 
entire  country  became  the  forfeit  of  their  fidelity.  In 
their  numerous  transactions  with  the  several  provinces 
formed  out  of  their  ancient  territories,  no  serious  cause 
of  complaint  was  found  against  them  for  the  non- 
fulfilment  of  treaty  stipulations,  although  they  were 
shorn  of  their  possessions  by  treaty  after  treaty,  and 
oftentimes  made  the  victims  of  deception  and  fraud. 
In  their  intercourse  with  Indian  nations,  they  fre 
quently  entered  into  treaties,  sometimes  of  amity  and 
alliance,  sometimes  of  protection  only,  and  in  some 
instances  for  special  purposes.  All  of  these  national 
compacts  were  "  talked  into  "  strings  of  wampum,  to 
use  the  Indian  expression,  after  which  these  were 
delivered  into  the  custody  of  Ho-no-we-na-to,  the 
Onondaga  sachem,  who  was  made  hereditary  keeper 
of  the  Wampum,  at  the  institution  of  the  League ; 
and  from  him  and  his  successors,  was  to  be  sought 
their  interpretation  from  generation  to  generation. (83) 
Hence  the  expression  — "  This  belt  preserves  my 
words,"  so  frequently  met  with  at  the  close  of  Indian 
speeches,  on  the  presentation  of  a  belt.  Indian  na 
tions,  after  treating,  always  exchanged  belts,  which 
were  not  only  the  ratification,  but  the  memorandum 
of  the  compact.(82) 

327 


LEAGUE    OF    THE   IROQUOIS 

There  was  an  ancient  treaty  between  the  Senecas  and 
the  Ga-qua-ga-o-nOy  or  Eries,  who  resided  upon  the 
southern  shore  of  Lake  Erie,  to  the  effect  that  the 
Genesee  river  should  be  the  boundary  between  them, 
and  that  when  a  hostile  band  of  either  nation  re-crossed 
this  river  into  its  own  territories,  it  should  be  safe  from 
further  pursuit.  An  infraction  of  this  treaty  was  one 
of  the  reasons  of  the  long-cherished  animosity  of  the 
Iroquois  against  them.  A  similar  compact  was  once 
made  with  the  O-ya-da-go-o-no?  or  Cherokees,  by  which 
the  Tennessee  river  was  the  limit  of  pursuit.  If  a 
war-party  of  the  latter  had  returned  and  re-crossed  the 
Tennessee  before  they  were  overtaken  by  the  pursuing 
Iroquois,  they  were  as  safe  from  their  attack,  as  if  in 
trenched  behind  an  impregnable  rampart.  The  Iro 
quois  band  could  still  invade,  if  disposed,  the  territory 
of  the  enemy,  but  they  passed  the  camp  of  the  retreat 
ing  war-party  without  offering  the  slightest  molestation. 

The  Iroquois  prided  themselves  upon  their  sacred 
regard  for  the  public  faith,  and  punished  the  want  of  it 
with  severity  when  an  occasion  presented.  An  example 
is  to  be  found  in  the  case  of  the  Sag-a-na'-ga,  or  Dela- 

1  This  was  the  Iroquois  name  of  the   Erie   nation,  who  were  expelled 
by  them  about  the  year  1655.     They  were  an  offshoot  of  the  Iroquois  stock, 
and  spoke  a  dialect  of  their   language.      Charlevoix   calls  them   the    "Cat 
Nation.11      Vol.    ii.    p.    62.      It  is  a  singular  fact  that  the  Neuter  Nation, 
who  dwelt  on  the  banks  of  the  Niagara  river,  and   who   were  expelled  by 
the  Iroquois  about  the  year  1643,  was  known  among  them  as  the  Je-go'- 
sa-sa,  or  Cat  Nation.     The  word  signifies  a  wild-cat  ;  and  from  being  the 
name  of  a  woman  of  great  influence  among  them,n4)  it  came  to  be  the 
name  of  the  nation.      Charlevoix  also  speaks  of  the  Neuter  Nation.     Vol.  i. 
p.  377.      It    is    quite   probable    that    he  transposed   or    confounded   their 
aboriginal    names. 

2  O-ya-da'-go-o-no,  the  Iroquois  name  of  the  Cherokees,  signifies  "The 
people  who  dwell  in  caves." 

328 


FAITH   OF   TREATIES 

wares.  After  they  had  been  subdued,  and  had  ac 
knowledged  their  dependence  by  sending  the  tributary 
wampum,  they  made  an  inroad  upon  a  western  nation 
under  the  protection  of  the  Iroquois,  notwithstanding 
their  knowledge  of  the  treaty,  and  a  prohibition  against 
its  infringement.  A  deputation  of  Iroquois  chiefs  went 
immediately  into  the  country  of  the  Delawares,  and 
having  assembled  the  people  in  council,  they  degraded 
them  from  the  rank  of  even  a  tributary  nation.  Hav 
ing  reproved  them  for  their  want  of  faith,  they  forbade 
them  from  ever  after  going  out  to  war,  divested  them 
of  all  civil  powers,  and  declared  that  they  should  hence 
forth  be  as  women.  This  degradation  they  signified 
in  the  figurative  way  of  putting  upon  them  the  Ga- 
ka-a/i,  or  skirt  of  the  female,  and  placing  in  their 
hands  a  corn-pounder,  thus  showing  that  their  busi 
ness  ever  after  should  be  that  of  women.  The  Dela 
wares  never  emancipated  themselves,  after  this  act  of 
denationalization.1 


1  The  Delawares,  about  the  year  1742,  having  sold  some  of  their  lands 
upon  the  Delaware  river  to  Pennsylvania,  without  the  knowledge  or  con 
sent  of  the  Iroquois,  Canassetego,  the  Onondaga  chief  before  mentioned, 
reproved  them  in  a  speech,  from  which  some  extracts  are  subjoined  in  fur 
ther  illustration  of  the  lordly  manner  in  which  the  Iroquois  conducted 
themselves  towards  subjugated  nations.  "Let  this  belt  of  wampum  serve 
to  chastise  you.*  *  How  came  you  to  take  upon  you  to  sell  land  at  all  ? 
We  conquered  you  ;  we  made  women  of  you;  you  know  you  are  women, 
and  can  no  more  sell  land  than  women;  nor  is  it  fit  that  you  should  have 
the  power  of  selling  lands,  since  you  would  abuse  it.  *  *  We  therefore 
assign  you  two  places  to  go,  either  to  Wyoming  or  Shamokin.  You  may 
go  to  either  of  these  places,  and  then  we  shall  have  you  more  under  our 
eye,  and  shall  see  how  you  behave.  Don't  deliberate,  but  remove,  and 
take  this  belt  of  wampum.11  *  Then  taking  another  belt  he  continued: 
"  After  our  just  reproof,  and  absolute  order  to  depart  from  the  land,  you 
are  now  to  take  notice  of  what  we  have  further  to  say  to  you.  This 

329 


LEAGUE'  OF    THE    I  R  O      U  O  I  S 


After  war  had  been  declared  against  any  nation, 
either  by  the  congress  of  sachems  at  Onondaga,  or  by 
an  individual  nation  against  a  neighboring  enemy,  the 
existence  of  the  war  was  indicated  by  a  tomahawk 
painted  red,  ornamented  with  red  feathers,  and  with 
black  wampum,  struck  in  the  war-post  in  each  village 
of  the  League.  Any  person  was  then  at  liberty  to  or 
ganize  a  band,  and  make  an  invasion.  This  was 
effected  in  a  summary  manner.  Dressed  in  full  cos 
tume,  the  war-chief  who  proposed  to  solicit  volunteers 
and  conduct  the  expedition,  went  through  the  village 
sounding  the  war-whoop  to  announce  his  intentions; 
after  which  he  went  to  the  war-post,  Ga-on-dote\  and 
having  struck  into  it  his  red  tomahawk,  he  commenced 
the  war-dance.  A  group  gathered  around  him,  and  as 
their  martial  ardor  was  aroused  by  the  dance,  they  en 
listed,  one  after  the  other,  by  joining  in  its  perform 
ance.  In  this  manner  a  company  was  soon  formed  ; 
the  matrons  of  the  village  prepared  their  subsistence 
while  the  dance  was  performing  ;,  and  at  its  close,  while 
they  were  yet  fired  with  enthusiasm  for  the  enterprise, 
they  immediately  left  the  village,  and  turned  their 
footsteps  towards  the  country  of  the  enemy.  If  the 
movement  was  simultaneous  in  several  villages,  these 
parties  joined  each  other  on  their  march,  but  each  band 
continued  under  the  direction  of  its  own  war-chief. 
Their  subsistence  was  usually  charred  corn,  parched  a 

string  of  wampum  serves  to  forbid  you,  your  children  and  your  grandchil 
dren  to  the  latest  posterity  forever,  meddling  in  land  affairs  ;  neither  you, 
nor  any  who  shall  descend  from  you,  are  ever  hereafter  to  presume  to  sell 
any  land.  For  which  purpose  you  are  to  preserve  this  string,  in  memory 
of  what  your  uncles  have  this  day  given  you  in  charge.11  Colde^s  Hist. 
Five  Nations,  Lond.  Ed.  1750,  pp.  80-8  1. 

330 


CAPTIVES    NOT    EXCHANGED 

second  time,  pounded  into  fine  flour,  and  mixed  with 
maple-sugar,  thus  reducing  it  in  bulk  and  lightness  to 
such  a  degree  that  the  warrior  could  carry  without 
inconvenience  in  his  bear-skin  pocket  a  sufficient  sup 
ply  for  a  long  and  perilous  expedition.  The  band 
took  the  war-path  in  single  file,  and  moved  with  such 
rapidity  that  it  was  but  five  days'  journey  to  the 
country  of  the  Cherokees,  upon  the  southern  banks  of 
the  Tennessee.  At  their  night  encampments  they  cut 
upon  the  trees  certain  devices  to  indicate  their  num 
bers  and  destination,  On  their  return,  they  did  the 
same,  showing  also  the  number  of  captives,  and  the 
number  slain.  When  the  returning  war-party  reached 
the  outskirts  of  their  village,  they  sounded  the  war- 
whoop  to  announce  their  approach,  and  to  summon 
the  people  to  assemble  for  their  reception.  Then 
leading  their  captives,  they  entered  the  village  in  a 
dancing  procession,  as  they  had  shortly  before  gone 
out.  After  they  had  reached  the  war-post  in  the 
centre  of  the  place,  a  wise-man  addressed  them  in  a 
speech  of  welcome  and  congratulation;  in  reply  to 
which,  a  speech  was  made  by  one  of  the  band,  descrip 
tive  of  their  adventures,  after  which  the  war-dance  was 
again  enjoyed. 

The  Iroquois  never  exchanged  prisoners  with  In 
dian  nations,  nor  ever  sought  to  reclaim  their  own 
people  from  captivity  among  them/10  Adoption  or 
the  torture  were  the  alternative  chances  of  the  cap 
tive.  A  distinguished  war-chief  would  sometimes  be 
released  by  them  from  admiration  of  his  military 
achievements,  and  be  restored  to  his  people,  with 
presents  and  other  marks  of  favor.  No  pledges 

331 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

were  exacted  in  these  occasional  instances  of  mag 
nanimity,  but  the  person  thus  discharged  esteemed 
himself  bound  in  honor  never  again  to  take  the 
war-path  against  his  generous  enemy.  If  adopted,  the 
allegiance  and  the  affections  of  the  captive  were  trans 
ferred  to  his  adopted  nation.  When  the  Indian  went 
forth  to  war,  he  emphatically  took  his  life  in  his  hand, 
knowing  that  if  he  should  be  taken  it  was  forfeited  by 
the  laws  of  war;  and  if  saved  by  adoption,  his  country, 
at  least,  was  lost  forever.  From  the  foundation  of 
the  Confederacy,  the  custom  of  adoption  has  prevailed 
among  the  Iroquois,  who  carried  this  principle  farther 
than  other  Indian  nations.  It  was  not  confined  to 
captives  alone,  but  was  extended  to  fragments  of  dis 
membered  tribes,  and  even  to  the  admission  of  in 
dependent  nations  into  the  League. (126)  It  was  a 
leading  feature  of  their  policy  to  subdue  adjacent 
nations  by  conquest,  and  having  absorbed  them  by 
naturalization,  to  mould  them  into  one  common 
family  with  themselves.  Some  fragments  of  tribes 
were  adopted  and  distributed  among  the  nations  at 
large ;  some  were  received  into  the  League  as  inde 
pendent  members,  as  the  Tuscaroras,  while  others 
were  taken  under  its  shelter,  like  the  Mohekunnucks, 
and  assigned  a  territory  within  their  own.  The  fruit 
of  this  system  of  policy  was  their  gradual  elevation 
to  a  universal  supremacy  ;  a  supremacy  which  was 
spreading  so  rapidly  at  the  epoch  of  their  discovery, 
as  to  threaten  the  subjugation  of  all  the  nations  east 
of  the  Mississippi. 

A    regular    ceremony    of  adoption    was    performed 
in    each    case,   to    complete    the    naturalization/5'9' 104) 

332 


ADOPTION 


With  captives,  this  ceremony  was  the  gantlet,  after 
which  new  names  were  assigned  to  them  ;  and  at  the 
next  religious  festival,  their  names,  together  with  the 
tribe  and  family  into  which  they  were  respectively 
adopted,  were  publicly  announced.  Upon  the  re 
turn  of  a  war-party  with  captives,  if  they  had  lost 
-any  of  their  own  number  in  the  expedition,  the 
families  to  which  these  belonged  were  first  allowed 
an  opportunity  to  supply  from  the  captives  the 
places  made  vacant  in  their  households.  Any  family 
could  then  adopt  out  of  the  residue  any  who  chanced 
to  attract  their  favorable  notice,  or  whom  they  wished 
to  save.  At  the  time  appointed,  which  was  usually 
three  or  four  days  after  the  return  of  the  band,  the 
women  and  children  of  the  village  arranged  them 
selves  in  two  parallel  rows  just  without  the  place, 
each  one  having  a  whip  with  which  to  lash  the  cap 
tives  as  they  passed  between  the  lines.  The  male 
captives,  who  alone  were  required  to  undergo  this 
test  of  their  powers  of  endurance,  were  brought  out, 
and  each  one  was  shown  in  turn  the  house  in  which 
he  was  to  take  refuge,  and  which  was  to  be  his  future 
home,  if  he  passed  successfully  through  the  ordeal. 
They  were  then  taken  to  the  head  of  this  long  avenue 
of  whips,  and  were  compelled,  one  after  another,  to 
run  through  it  for  their  lives,  and  for  the  entertain 
ment  of  the  surrounding  throng,  exposed  at  every 
step,  undefended,  and  with  naked  backs,  to  the  merci 
less  inflictions  of  the  whip.  Those  who  fell  from 
exhaustion  were  immediately  despatched  as  unworthy 
to  be  saved  ;  but  those  who  emerged  in  safety  from 
this  test  of  their  physical  energies,  were  from  that 


333 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

moment  treated  with  the  utmost  affection  and  kind 
ness.  The  effects  of  this  contrast  in  behavior  upon 
the  mind  of  the  captive  must  have  been  singular 
enough.  During  the  slow  progress  of  these  arrange 
ments,  how  many  captives  have  listened  to  every  sound, 
and  watched  every  motion  with  the  most  intense  soli 
citude.  Carried  into  the  heart  of  the  country  of  the 
enemy,  far  away  from  all  hope  of  succor,  the  ques 
tion  was  about  to  be  decided  whether  the  clemency 
of  their  captors  would  bestow  upon  them  the  rights 
of  citizenship,  or  their  warlike  frenzy  lead  them  away 
to  the  torture.  Its  decision  depended  upon  the  most 
fickle  impulses.  Who  shall  relate  our  sylvan  history  ! 
To  the  red  man  compassion  has  seldom  been  ascribed, 
but  yet  these  scenes  in  the  forest  oftentimes  revealed 
the  most  generous  traits  of  character.  Admiration 
for  the  chivalric  bearing  of  a  captive,  the  recollection 
of  a  past  favor,  or  a  sudden  impulse  of  compassion, 
were  sufficient  to  decide  the  question  of  adoption. 
When  the  perils  of  the  gantlet,  which  was  an  enviable 
lot  compared  with  the  fate  of  the  rejected,  were  over, 
he  ceased  to  be  an  enemy,  and  became  an  Iroquois. 
Not  only  so,  but  he  was  received  into  the  family  by 
which  he  was  adopted  with  all  the  cordiality  of  affec 
tion,  and  into  all  the  relations  of  the  one  whose  place 
he  was  henceforth  to  fill.  By  these  means  all  recol 
lections  of  his  distant  kindred  were  gradually  effaced, 
bound  as  he  was  by  gratitude  to  those  who  had  re 
stored  a  life  which  was  forfeited  by  the  usages  of  war. 
If  a  captive,  after  adoption,  became  discontented, 
which  is  said  to  have  been  seldom  the  case,  he  was 
sometimes  restored,  with  presents,  to  his  nation,  that 

334 


THE    HUNT 

they  might  know  he  had  lost  nothing  by  his  cap 
tivity  among  them.(104) 

The  rejected  captives  were  then  led  away  to  the 
torture,  and  to  death.  It  is  not  necessary  to  de 
scribe  this  horrible  practice  of  our  primitive  inhab 
itants.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  it  was  a  test  of 
courage.  When  the  Indian  went  out  upon  the  war 
path,  he  prepared  his  mind  for  this  very  contingency, 
resolving  to  show  the  enemy,  if  captured,  that  hir 
courage  was  equal  to  any  trial,  and  above  the  power 
of  death  itself.  The  exhibitions  of  heroism  and  forti 
tude  by  the  red  man  under  the  sufferings  of  martyr 
dom,  almost  surpass  belief.  They  considered  the 
character  of  their  nation  in  their  keeping,  and  the 
glory  of  the  race  as  involved  and  illustrated  in  the 
manner  of  their  death. 

A  slight  notice  of  a  few  of  their  customs  in  relation 
to  the  hunt,  will  close  this  desultory  chapter.  The 
deer,  the  elk,  the  moose,  the  bear,  and  several  species 
of  wild  fowl,  furnished  their  principal  game.  At  certain 
seasons  of  the  year,  the  female  of  all  animals  was  spared, 
by  the  provisions  of  their  game-laws,  lest  there  should 
be  a  diminution  of  the  supply.  Not  having  a  species 
of  dog  adapted  to  the  chase,  they  were  obliged  to  resort 
to  the  still  hunt,  and  seize  the  opportunity  whenever  it 
presented ;  thus  rendering  it  necessary  to  success  that 
the  hunter  should  become  well  versed  in  the  habits  of 
animals.  Sometimes  they  trapped  both  deer  and  bear, 
and  spread  nets  for  quails  and  other  small  fowl.  One 
species  of  deer-trap  was  attached  to  a  young  tree  bent 
over,  and  so  adjusted  that  the  springing  of  the  trap 
fastened  a  loop  around  the  hind  legs  of  the  deer,  and 

335 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I  R  O  <U  O  I  S 


at  the  same  time  released  the  tree,  which  drew  him  up, 
and  held  him  suspended  in  the  air.  They  practiced 
another  method  of  taking  deer,  in  herds.  A  large 
party  of  hunters  was  formed,  and  a  brush  fence  was 
built  in  the  shape  of  the  letter  V,  two  or  three  miles  in 
length  on  each  side.  The  woods  were  then  fired  in 
the  rear  at  some  miles'  distance,  so  as  to  drive  the  deer 
towards  the  opening,  into  which  they  were  guided  by 
parties  stationed  upon  either  side.  They  followed  the 
fence  down  to  the  angle,  where  the  arrows  of  the  un 
seen  hunters  soon  brought  them  down  one  after  the 
other.  Sometimes  a  hundred  were  thus  taken  at  one 
time.  In  the  bear-hunt  it  was  customary  to  tire  out 
the  animal  by  a  long  chase,  as  when  fresh  and  vigorous 
he  was  too  formidable  to  attack  with  the  bow  and 
arrow,  or  the  hunting  tomahawk  ;  but  when  wearied 
out  it  was  an  easy  matter  to  overcome  him.  The 
hunter  selected  the  choice  pieces  of  venison,  and  hav 
ing  removed  the  bone,  and  dried  and  cured  the  flesh 
before  a  fire,  he  packed  it  in  small  bark  barrels,  and 
thus  carried  it  home  upon  his  back.  It  was  so  much 
reduced  in  weight  and  bulk  by  the  process  of  curing, 
that  a  hunter  could  thus  transport,  with  ease,  the  sub 
stance  of  a  dozen  deer.  Their  skins  were  also  dried  and 
packed,  and  carried  home  in  the  same  manner.  When 
deer  or  bear  were  taken  in  winter,  within  a  day's  journey 
of  their  villages,  bark  sledges  were  prepared,  on  which 
they  were  drawn  home,  undressed,  upon  the  snow  crust. 
Hunting  was  a  passion  with  the  red  man.  He  pur 
sued  it  for  the  excitement  and  employment  it  afforded, 
as  well  as  for  subsistence,  frequently  making  long  and 
toilsome  expeditions.  The  Senecas,  for  example,  in 

336 


INDIAN    LIFE 

the  season  of  the  fall  hunt,  would  leave  their  villages 
in  small  parties;  some  turning  south,  would  encamp 
upon  the  Chemung  river,  and  traverse  the  whole  ad 
jacent  country  ;  others,  descending  the  Allegany,  pen 
etrated  the  inland  regions  of  Ohio,  which  was  a  favorite 
hunting-ground,  not  only  of  the  Senecas,  but  also  of 
the  other  nations  of  the  League;  while  still  others  en 
camped  within  the  Niagara  peninsula,  which  was  for 
merly  a  place  of  great  resort  for  the  beaver-hunt.  The 
Cayugas  turned  to  the  Susquehanna,  which  furnished 
them  an  inexhaustible  store.  They  also  ranged  Penn 
sylvania  ;  and  with  parties  from  the  other  nations,  they 
not  unfrequently  roamed  as  far  as  the  Potomac,  which 
was  within  their  ancient  domain.  Parties  of  the  Onon- 
dagas  descended  the  Chenango  to  the  Susquehanna, 
or  turning  northward,  perchance,  crossed  over  into 
Canada.  The  Oneidas,  for  the  fall  hunt,  descended 
the  Unadilla,  and  also  went  northward,  into  the 
regions  watered  by  the  Black  river.  Lastly,  the  Mo 
hawks,  leaving  their  valley,  found  well-stocked  hunt 
ing-grounds  upon  the  head-waters  of  the  Delaware  and 
Susquehanna,  and  also  in  the  wild  and  rugged  regions 
of  the  north,  and  around  lake  Champlain. 

About  midwinter  these  widely  scattered  parties  be 
gan  to  find  their  way  back  to  their  villages  for  the 
celebration  of  their  annual  jubilee  ;  after  which  they  sur 
rendered  themselves  for  a  season  to  idleness,  or  to  the 
amusements  of  the  winter  life.  With  the  spring  came 
the  fishing  season,  in  which  for  a  time  they  found  em 
ployment.  The  summer  again  was  a  season  of  repose, 
except  when  enlivened  by  councils,  by  their  religious 
festivals,  or  by  the  adventures  of  the  war-path. 


VOL.  I.  -22 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

In  this  round  of  occupations  the  Iroquois  glided 
through  the  year.  The  progress  of  the  seasons  sug 
gested  their  appropriate  employments,  if  not  marked 
in  the  exuberance  of  unsubdued  nature,  by  the  same 
attractive  changes  which  pursue  each  other  in  regions 
beautified  by  cultivation.  While  with  the  fullest  ap 
preciation  he  enjoyed  the  grandeur  of  nature  in  her 
wild  attire,  and  surrendered  himself  to  her  deepest  in 
spirations,  he  yet  knew  nothing  of  her  inexhaustible 
fruitfulness,  or  of  those  more  delicate  features  of  beauty 
which  are  revealed  only  by  the  hand  of  art.  Aspiring 
to  a  freedom  as  boundless  as  the  forest,  satisfied  with 
the  martial  pursuits,  the  amusements,  the  friendships 
and  the  social  privileges  of  Indian  life,  and  proud  of 
their  military  achievements  and  of  the  fame  of  the 
League  among  Indian  nations,  the  Iroquois  measured 
out  their  days  with  all  the  happiness  which  these  con 
siderations  could  secure,  and  with  all  the  contentment 
which  could  result  from  knowing  no  higher  destiny. 


338 


VOLUME    II 


BOOK    THIRD 
INCIDENT  TO  THE  LEAGUE 


BOOK     III 
INCIDENT  TO  THE  LEAGUE 

Chapter  I 

Fabrics  of  the  Iroquois  —  Their  Artisan  Intellect  —  Indian  Pottery  — 
Earthen  Vessels  —  Moccason  —  War  Club  —  Tomahawk  —  Rope 
Making —Finger  Weaving  —  Bark  Vessels  —  Bark  Canoe—  Corn 
Mortar  —  Maize  —  Tobacco  —  Snow  Shoe  —  Indian  Saddle  —  Mis 
cellaneous  Inventions  —  Basket  Making — Costumes — Wampum  — 
Baby  Frame — Diffusion  of  Indian  Arts — Improvement  of  the 
Iroquois 

THE  fabrics  of  a  people  unlock  their  social 
history.  They  speak  a  language  which  is 
silent,  but  yet  more  eloquent  than  the  written 
page.  As  memorials  of  former  times,  they  commune 
directly  with  the  beholder,  opening  the  unwritten 
history  of  the  period  they  represent,  and  clothing  it 
with  perpetual  freshness.  However  rude  the  age,  or 
uncultivated  the  people  from  whose  hands  they  come, 
the  products  of  human  ingenuity  are  ever  invested 
with  a  peculiar  and  even  solemn  interest.  It  is  greatly 
to  be  regretted  that  so  few  remains  of  the  skill  and 
industry  of  the  Iroquois  have  come  down  to  the 
present  age,  to  illustrate  the  era  of  Indian  occupation. 
Although  their  fabrics  are  indicative  of  a  low  state  of 
the  useful  arts,  the  artificial  contrivances  by  which 

3 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

they  were  surrounded  are  yet  the  indices  of  their  so 
cial  condition,  and  for  this  reason  are  not  devoid 
of  instruction.  Further  than  this,  it  is  but  just  to 
them  to  save  from  oblivion  the  fruits  of  their  inven 
tive  intellect,  however  unpretending  they  may  seem, 
that,  in  the  general  judgment  pronounced  upon  their 
memory,  they  may  not  be  defrauded  of  even  their 
humblest  inventions.(105) 

Since  the  commencement  of  European  intercourse, 
and  especially  within  the  last  century,  great  changes 
have  been  wrought  among  the  Iroquois.  Their  prim 
itive  fabrics  have  mostly  passed  away,  and  with  them, 
many  of  their  original  inventions.(10G)  The  intro 
duction  of  articles  of  more  skilful  manufacture  has 
led  to  the  gradual  disuse  of  many  of  their  simple 
arts.  At  the  present  moment,  therefore,  much  of  the 
fruit  of  their  inventive  capacity  is  entirely  lost.  Frag 
ments,  it  is  true,  are  frequently  disentombed  from 
the  resting-places  to  which  they  had  been  consigned 
by  their  burial  rites,  but  they  are  mere  vestiges  of  the 
past,  and  afford  but  a  slight  indication  of  their  social 
condition,  or  of  the  range  of  their  artisan  intellect. 
It  would  now  be  •  extremely  difficult  to  furnish  a 
full  description  of  their  implements,  domestic  utensils, 
and  miscellaneous  fabrics.  Many  of  the  inventions 
of  the  earlier  Iroquois  are  still  preserved  among  their 
descendants  now  residing  within  our  limits  and  in 

o 

Canada  ;  but  that  portion  of  them  which  would  espe 
cially  serve  to  illustrate  the  condition  of  the  hunter 
life  have  passed  beyond  our  reach. 

The  remains  of  Indian  art  which  are  found  scattered 
over  the  soil  of  New  York  are  of  two  distinct  kinds, 

4 


THEIR    ARTISAN    INTELLECT 

and  to  be  ascribed  to  widely  different  periods.  The 
first  class  belong  to  the  ante-Columbian  period,  or 
the  era  of  the  "  Mound  Builders,"  (36)  whose  defensive 
works,  mounds,  and  sacred  enclosures  are  scattered  so 
profusely  throughout  the  west.1  With  the  second 
period  may  be  connected  the  name  of  the  Iroquois.  It 
will  also  include  the  remains  of  the  fugitive  races,  who, 
since  the  extermination  of  the  "  Mound  Builders,"  have 
displaced  each  other  in  succession,  until  the  period  of 
the  Iroquois  commenced. 

In  the  fabrics  of  the  Iroquois  a  wide  range  is  observ 
able.  It  reaches  from  the  rudest  specimens  of  pottery 
of  the  ancient,  to  the  most  delicate  needlework  of  the 
modern  Iroquois.  Since  the  era  of  the  discovery,  and 
the  commencement  of  their  intercourse  with  Euro 
peans,  a  gradual  revolution  has  been  effected.  Their 
social  condition  has  changed  greatly,  and  is  changing 
from  day  to  day.  With  equal  pace  their  simple  arts 
have  been  dropping  from  their  hands,  one  after  the 
other,  as  they  have  taken  up  agricultural  pursuits,  until 
at  the  present  epoch  the  fabrics  of  the  Iroquois  con 
trast  very  strangely  with  those  of  their  ancestors.  In 
their  present  advanced  condition,  a  large  proportion  of 
their  articles  are  of  a  mixed  character.  They  rather 
exhibit  the  application  of  Indian  ingenuity  to  fabrics 

1  The  remains  of  this  period  indicate  a  semi-civilization  of  the  most 
imposing  character,  including  a  considerable  development  of  the  art  of 
agriculture.  Exclusive  of  the  mounds  and  enclosures,  they  have  left  im 
plements  of  copper  and  chert,  of  stone,  porphyry  and  earthen,  some  of 
which  are  elaborately  and  ingeniously  wrought.  The  fugitive  specimens 
belonging  to  this  period,  which  are  occasionally  found  within  the  limits 
of  our  State,  are  much  superior  to  any  of  the  productions  of  the  earlier 
Iroquois. 

5 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

of  foreign  manufacture,  as  shown  in  their  reduction 
into  use,  than  originality  of  invention.  But  this  class 
of  articles  are  not  without  a  peculiar  interest.  They 
furnish  no  slight  indication  of  artisan  capacity,  and  will 
serve  as  a  species  of  substitute  for  those  articles  which 
they  have  displaced,  and  those  inventions  which  they 
have  hurried  into  forgetfulness. 

One  of  the  most  ancient  Indian  arts  was  that  of  pot 
tery.  It  was  carried  to  considerable  perfection  by  the 
Iroquois  at  an  early  day,  as  is  shown  by  the  specimens 
which  are  still  occasionally  disentombed  from  the 
burial-places,  where  they  were  deposited  beside  the 
dead ;  but  the  art  itself  has  been  so  long  disused  that 
it  is  now  entirely  lost.  Pipes,  and  earthen  pots  of 
various  designs  and  sizes,  are  the  principal  articles  thus 
found.  Some  of  these  specimens  of  black  pottery, 
which  is  the  best  variety,  are  of  so  fine  a  texture  as  to 
admit  of  a  tolerable  polish,  and  so  firm  as  to  have  the 
appearance  of  stone.  Their  common  pottery  is  of  a 
clay  color,  and  is  a  compound  of  common  clay  and 
pulverized  quartz. (108) 

This  pipe  is  of  black  pottery,  well  finished,  and 
nearly  as  hard  as  marble,  and  is  also  represented  at  its 
actual  size.  In  some  specimens  the  bowl  is  fronted 
with  a  human  face,  or  with  a  wolf's  or  dog's  head. 
Frequently  these  imitations  are  delicately,  even  ex 
quisitely  made.  Another  species  of  pipe,  in  use  among 
the  Iroquois  in  later  times,  was  cut  out  of  soap- 
stone,  which  yields  readily  to  metallic  instruments.  A 
representation  of  one  of  these  pipes  of  Seneca  manu 
facture,  will  be  found  in  the  plate  (I.  105).  It  is  fronted 
with  a  human  face,  and  designed  to  be  used  with  a 

6 


PIPES 

stem-piece  of  reed.     The  other,  in  the  same  plate,  is 
also  a  modern  Iroquois  pipe,  made  of  Catlinite,  or  the 


Ab-sc-qua' -tay  or  Iroquois  Pipe,  Lima,  Liv.  Co.,  N.  Y. 

red  Missouri  pipe-stone.     Pipes  of  this  description  are 
used  chiefly  among  the  Sioux,  by  whom  they  were  in- 

7 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

troduced  into  use,  and  other  western  Indians;  and  were 
rather  accidental  than  common  among  the  Iroquois. 


Pipe  of  the  Mound  Builders,  Valley  of  the  Genesee. 

This  pipe  is  anomalous.  It  is  of  black  marble, 
highly  polished,  with  the  bowl  and  stem  bored  with 
great  precision.  Doubtless  it  is  a  relic  of  the 
"  Mound  Builders,"  which,  having  found  its  way  into 
the  hands  of  a  Seneca,  was  finally  buried  by  his  side 
in  the  valley  of  the  Genesee,  to  be  again  brought  to 

8 


OUT  WIS -TA-NL-UN-  DA-QUA    OR  SILVER  BEADS 


EARTHEN    VESSELS 

light  upon  the  excavation  of  the  Valley  canal.  Like 
the  pipes  of  that  era,  it  has  the  bowl  in  the  central 
part  of  the  stone.  In  material,  also,  and  in  finish,  it 
is  unlike,  and  superior  to  the  pipes  of  the  Iroquois. 


Ga  -jib' ,  or  E  art  ben  Vessel. 

Earthen  pots  of  this  description  are  frequently 
found  beside  the  remains  of  the  Iroquois/10  They 
are  usually  of  sufficient  capacity  to  contain  from 
two  to  six  quarts.  On  exposure  to  the  air,  after  dis- 
interment,  they  are  apt  to  crumble,  being  usually,  if 
not  always,  of  the  light-colored  common  pottery, 
which  is  less  firm  and  coherent  than  the  black.  In 
these  earthen  vessels  it  was  customary  to  deposit  food 
for  the  departed,  while  journeying  to  the  realm  of  the 
Great  Spirit.  These  earthen  dishes  are  still  found  in 
Indian  burial-places,  where,  perhaps,  they  had  lain  for 
centuries ;  and  the  fragments  of  those  which  have 
been  broken  by  the  plough,  are  also  mingled  with  the 
soil. 

Metallic  implements  were  unknown  among  them, 
as  they  had  not  the  use  of  metals.  Rude  knives  of 
chert  were  used  for  skinning  deer,  and  similar  pur 
poses.  For  cutting  trees  and  excavating  canoes,  and 
corn  mortars,  in  a  word,  for  those  necessary  purposes 

9 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

for  which  the  axe  would  seem  to  be  indispensable,  the 
Iroquois  used  the  stone  chisel,  Uh'-ga-o-gwdt'-ha.  In 
cutting  trees,  fire  was  applied  at  the  foot,  and  the 
chisel  used  to  clear  away  the  coal.  By  a  repetition  of 
the  process,  trees  were  felled  and  cut  to  pieces. 
Wooden  vessels  were  hollowed  out  by  the  same  means. 
Fire  and  the  chisel  were  the  substitutes  for  the  axe. 
The  chisel  was  usually  about  six  inches  long,  three 
wide,  and  two  thick  ;  the  lower  end  being  fashioned 
like  the  edge  of  an  axe.  Stone  gouges  in  the  form  of 
a  convex  chisel,  were  also  used  when  a  more  regular 
concavity  of  the  vessel  was  desired.  Stone  mortars 
for  pounding  corn,  grinding  mineral  paint,  and  for 
pulverizing  roots  and  barks  for  medicines,  were  also 
among  their  utensils. (109) 

Arrow-heads  of  chert,  or  flint,  were  so  common 
that  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  refer  to  them.  Occa 
sionally  they  are  found  with  a  twist  to  make  the 
arrow  revolve  in  its  flight.  It  is  well  known  that  the 
Indian  always  feathered  his  arrow  for  the  same  pur 
pose.  It  is  not  uncommon  to  find  the  places  where 
these  arrow-heads  were  manufactured,  which  is  indi 
cated  by  the  fragments  of  chert  which  had  been  made 
by  cleavage.  In  the  western  mounds  rows  of  similar 
chert  heads  have  been  found  lying  side  by  side,  like 
teeth,  the  row  being  about  two  feet  long.  This  has 
suggested  the  idea  that  they  were  set  in  a  frame  and 
fastened  with  thongs,  thus  making  a  species  of  sword. 
Their  discovery  in  those  mounds  also  establishes  the 
great  antiquity  of  the  art. 

In  ancient  times  the  Iroquois  used  the  stone  toma 
hawk.  It  was  fashioned  something  like  an  axe,  but 

10 


MOCCASON 

in  place  of  an  eye  for  the  helve,  a  deep  groove  was 
cut  around  the  outside,  by  means  of  which  the  handle 
was  firmly  attached  with  a  withe  or  thong.(110)  Oval 
stones,  with  grooves  around  their  greatest  circum 
ference,  were  also  secured  in  the  head  of  war-clubs, 
and  thus  made  dangerous  weapons/11  Other  im 
plements  and  utensils  of  stone,  some  of  which  were 
very  ingeniously  worked,  were  in  use  among  the  Iro- 
quois  ;  and  also  personal  ornaments  of  the  same  mate 
rial,  but  a  sufficient  number  have  been  brought  under 
notice. 


O-sque'-sont,  or  Stone  Tomahawk. 

The  moccason  (see  plates  I.  35,  44,  79)  is  preemi 
nently  an  Indian  invention,  and  one  of  the  highest 
antiquity.  It  is  true  to  nature  in  its  adjustment  to 
the  foot,  beautiful  in  its  materials  and  finish,  and  dur 
able  as  an  article  of  apparel.  It  will  compare  favor 
ably  with  the  best  single  article  for  the  protection  and 
adornment  of  the  foot  ever  invented,  either  in  ancient 
or  modern  times.  With  the  sanction  of  fashion,  it 
would  supersede  among  us  a  long  list  of  similar  inven 
tions.  Other  nations  have  fallen  behind  the  Indian, 
in  this  one  particular  at  least.  The  masses  of  the 
Romans  wore  the  calceus  ligneus,  or  wooden  shoe  ; 
the  masses  of  Germany  and  Ireland,  and  of  many  of 
the  European  nations,  formerly  wore  the  same. 
With  the  cothurnus  and  sandal  of  the  ancients,  and 


r  i 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

the  boot  of  the  moderns,  the  moccason  admits  of  no 
unfavorable  comparison.  It  deserves  to  be  classed 
among  the  highest  articles  of  apparel  ever  invented, 
both  in  usefulness,  durability,  and  beauty. 

The  moccason  is  made  of  one  piece  of  deer-skin. 
It  is  seamed  up  at  the  heel,  and  also  in  front,  above 
the  foot,  leaving  the  bottom  of  the  moccason  without 
a  seam.  In  front  the  deer-skin  is  gathered,  in  place 
of  being  crimped  ;  over  this  part  porcupine  quills  or 
beads  are  worked,  in  various  patterns.  The  plain 
moccason  rises  several  inches  above  the  ankle,  like  the 
Roman  cothurnus,  and  is  fastened  with  deer  strings  ; 
but  usually  this  part  is  turned  down,  so  as  to  expose 
a  part  of  the  instep,  and  is  ornamented  with  bead- 
work,  as  represented  in  the  plates.  A  small  bone  near 
the  ankle  joint  of  the  deer,  has  furnished  the  moc 
cason  needle  (111)  from  time  immemorial  ;  and  the 
sinews  of  the  animal  the  thread.  These  bone  needles 
are  found  in  the  mounds  of  the  West,  and  beside  the 
skeletons  of  the  Iroquois,  where  they  were  deposited 
with  religious  care.  This  isolated  fact  would  seem  to 
indicate  an  affinity,  in  one  art  at  least,  between  the 
Iroquois  and  the  Mound  Builders,  whose  name,  and 
era  of  occupation  and  destiny  are  entirely  lost.(3G) 

In  ancient  times  the  Iroquois  used  another  shoe, 
made  of  the  skin  of  the  elk.  They  cut  the  skin 
above  and  below  the  gambrel  joint,  and  then  took  it 
off  entire.  As  the  hind  leg  of  the  elk  inclines  at  this 
joint,  nearly  at  a  right  angle,  it  was  naturally  adapted 
to  the  foot.  The  lower  end  was  sewed  firmly  with 
sinew,  and  the  upper  part  secured  above  the  ankle 
with  deer  strings. 


12 


SKIN-DRESSING 

In  connection  with  this  subject  is  the  art  of  tanning 
deer-skins ;  as  they  still  tan  them  after  the  ancient 
method.  It  is  done  with  the  brain  of  the  deer,  the 
tanning  properties  of  which,  according  to  a  tradition, 
were  discovered  by  accident.  The  brain  is  mingled 
with  moss,  to  make  it  adhere  sufficiently  to  be  formed 
into  a  cake,  which  is  afterwards  hung  by  the  fire  to 
dry.  It  is  thus  preserved  for  years.  When  the  deer 
skin  is  fresh,  the  hair,  and  also  the  grain  of  the  skin 
are  taken  off,  over  a  cylindrical  beam,  with  a  wooden 
blade  or  stone  scraper.  A  solution  is  then  made  by 
boiling  a  cake  of  the  brain  in  water,  and  the  moss, 
which  is  of  no  use,  being  removed,  the  skin  is  soaked 
in  it  for  a  few  hours.  It  is  then  wrung  out  and 
stretched,  until  it  becomes  dry  and  pliable.  Should 
it  be  a  thick  one,  it  would  be  necessary  to  repeat  the 
process  until  it  becomes  thoroughly  penetrated  by  the 
solution.  The  skin  is  still  porous  and  easily  torn. 
To  correct  both,  a  smoke  is  made,  and  the  skin  placed 
over  it  in  such  a  manner  as  to  enclose  it  entirely. 
Each  side  is  smoked  in  this  way  until  the  pores  are 
closed,  and  the  skin  has  become  thoroughly  tough 
ened,  with  its  color  changed  from  white  to  a  kind  of 
brown.  It  is  then  ready  for  use. 

They  also  use  the  brain  of  other  animals,  and  some 
times  the  back-bone  of  the  eel,  which,  pounded  up 
and  boiled,  possesses  nearly  the  same  properties  for 
tanning.  Bear-skins  were  never  tanned.  They  were 
scraped  and  softened,  after  which  they  were  dried,  and 
used  without  removing  the  hair,  either  as  an  article  of 
apparel,  or  as  a  mattress  to  sleep  upon. 

Before  the  tomahawk  came  into  use  among  the 

13 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

Iroquois,  their  principal  weapons  were  the  bow,  the 
stone  tomahawk,  and  the  war-club.  The  Ga'-je'-wa 
was  a  heavy  weapon,  usually  made  of  ironwood,  with 


Ga-je'-wa,  or    War -club. 

a  large  ball  of  knot  at  the  head.  It  was  usually  about 
two  feet  in  length,  and  the  ball  five  or  six  inches  in 
diameter.  In  close  combat  it  would  prove  a  formida 
ble  weapon.  They  wore  it  in  the  belt,  in  front. 


Ga-ne-uf-ga-o-dus-ba,  or  Deer-horn  War-club. 

This  species  of  war-club  was  also  much  used.  It 
was  made  of  hard  wood,  elaborately  carved,  painted 
and  ornamented  with  feathers  at  the  ends.  In  the 
lower  edge,  a  sharp-pointed  deer's  horn,  about  four 
inches  in  length,  was  inserted.  It  was  thus  rendered 
a  dangerous  weapon  in  close  combat,  and  would  inflict 
a  deeper  wound  than  the  former.  They  wore  it  in 
the  girdle.  At  a  later  period  they  used  the  same 
species  of  club,  substituting  a  steel  or  iron  blade 

14 


WAR-CLUE 

resembling  a  spearhead,  in  the  place  of  the  horn. 
War-clubs  of  this  description  are  still  to  be  found 
among  the  Iroquois,  preserved  as  relics  of  past 
exploits.  It  is  not  probable,  however,  that  these  two 
varieties  were  peculiar  to  them  ;  they  were  doubtless 
common  over  the  continent. 

The  tomahawk  succeeded  the  war-club,  as  the  rifle 
did  the  bow.  With  the  invention  of  this  terrible 
implement  of  warfare  the  red  man  had  nothing  to  do, 
except  in  having  it  so  fashioned  as  to  be  adapted  to 
his  taste  and  usage.  The  tomahawk  is  known  as 
widely  as  the  Indian,  and  the  two  names  have  become 


O-sque'-sont,  or  Tomahawk. 

apparently  inseparable.  They  are  made  of  steel, 
brass,  or  iron.  The  choicer  articles  are  surmounted 
by  a  pipe-bowl,  and  have  a  perforated  handle,  that 
they  may  answer  the  double  purpose  of  ornament  and 
use.  In  such  the  handle,  and  often  the  blade  itself, 
are  richly  inlaid  with  silver.  It  is  worn  in  the  girdle, 
and  behind  the  back,  except  when  in  actual  battle. 
They  used  it  in  close  combat  with  terrible  effect,  and 
also  threw  it  with  unerring  certainty  at  distant  objects, 
making  it  revolve  in  the  air  in  its  flight.  With  the 

'5 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQJJOIS 

Indian,  the  tomahawk  is  the  emblem  of  war  itself. 
To  bury  it,  is  peace  ;  to  raise  it,  is  to  declare  the  most 
deadly  warfare. (112) 

Rope-making,  from  filaments  of  bark,  is  also  an  In 
dian  art.     The  deer  string  answers  a  multitude  of  pur- 


Ose-ga",  or  Skein  of  Slippery  Elm  Filaments. 

poses  in  their  domestic  economy  ;  but  it  could  not 
supply  them  all.  Bark-rope  (Ga-a -sken-da)  has  been 
fabricated  among  them  from  time  immemorial.  In  its 
manufacture,  they  use  the  bark  of  the  slippery-elm,  the 
red-elm,  and  the  bass-wood.  Having  removed  the  outer 
surface  of  the  bark,  they  divide  it  into  narrow  strips, 


Gus-ba'-ah,  or  Burden  Strap. 

t 
and  then  boil  it  in  ashes  and  water.     After  it  is  dried 

it  is  easily  separated  into  small  filaments,  the  strings 
running  with  the  grain  several  feet  without  breaking. 
These  filaments  are  then  put  up  in  skeins  and  laid  aside 
for  use.  Slippery-elm  makes  the  most  pliable  rope ; 
it  is  soft  to  the  touch,  can  be  closely  braided,  and  is 
very  durable.  The  burden  strap  is  worn  around  the 

16 


BURDEN    STRAP 

forehead,  and  lashed  to  a  litter,  which  is  borne  by  In 
dian  women  on  their  back.  It  is  usually  about  fifteen 
feet  in  length,  and  braided  into  a  belt  in  the  centre, 
three  or  four  inches  wide.  Some  of  them  are  entirely 
covered  upon  one  side  with  porcupine-quills-work,  after 
various  devices,  and  are  in  themselves  remarkable 
products  of  skilful  industry.  The  braiding (113)  or 
knitting  of  the  bark  threads  is  effected  with  a  single 
needle  of  hickory.  In  other  specimens,  the  quill-work 
is  sprinkled  over  the  belt  for  ornament,  the  quills  in 
all  cases  being  of  divers  colors.  Of  all  their  fabrics, 
there  is  no  one,  perhaps,  which  surpasses  the  porcu 
pine-quill  burden  strap,  in  skill  of  manufacture,  rich 
ness  of  material,  or  beauty  of  workmanship.  In  this 
species  of  work,  the  Iroquois  female  excelled.  They 
also  made  a  common  bark  rope  for  ordinary  uses, 
which  consisted  of  three  strands,  hard  twisted  ;  a  single 
rope  being  frequently  forty  or  fifty  feet  in  length.  The 
art  of  rope-making,  like  many  others,  has  mostly  fallen 
into  disuse  among  the  present  Iroquois.  But  few  In 
dian  families  now  provide  themselves  with  skeins  of 
bark  thread,  or  make  any  ropes  of  this  description. 
In  the  manufacture  of  the  several  species  of  burden 
strap,  more  skill,  ingenuity,  and  patient  industry  are 
exhibited,  perhaps,  than  in  any  other  single  article 
fabricated  by  the  Iroquois.  The  strap  consists  of  a 
belt  in  the  centre  about  two  feet  in  length  by  two 
and  a  half  inches  in  width,  with  ropes  at  each  end 
about  seven  feet  each  ;  thus  making  its  entire  length 
from  fifteen  to  twenty  feet.  It  is  used  attached  to 
the  litter  or  burden  frame,  to  the  baby  frame,  and  to 
the  basket,  when  these  burdens  are  to  be  borne  on  the 

VOL.  II.  —  2  I 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

back ;  in  which  cases  the  belt  is  passed  around  the 
forehead.  Fifteen  or  twenty  small  cords  are  first 
made,  about  three  feet  in  length,  by  twisting  the 
filaments  of  bark  by  hand.  These  cords,  which 
make  the  warp,  or  substance  of  the  belt,  are  then 
placed  parallel  with  each  other,  and  side  by  side ; 
after  which  finer  threads  of  the  same  material,  usually 
colored,  are  prepared  for  the  filling,  to  be  passed 
across  the  cords  over  and  under  each  alternately  from 
side  to  side  and  back  again.  The  fine  thread,  or 
filling,  is  twisted  in  the  first  instance,  and  also  again 
as  it  is  braided  or  woven  in  with  the  warp  while 
being  passed  across  from  side  to  side.  As  the  work 
is  all  done  by  hand,  it  is  a  slow  and  laborious  process, 
but  the  specimen  will  show  how  successfully  it  is 
accomplished.  After  the  filling  has  thus  been  braided 
in  with  the  warp,  each  of  the  main  cords,  although 
covered  on  both  sides,  literally  wound  with  the  finer 
threads  in  crossing  and  returning,  is  still  distinctly  visi 
ble,  giving  to  the  belt  the  appearance  of  being  ribbed. 
The  whole  process  is  exactly  the  same  as  the  modern 
process  of  weaving,  the  main  difference  consisting 
in  this,  that  in  the  latter  the  warp  and  filling  are 
nearly  equal  in  the  size  of  the  threads,  while  in  the 
Indian  art  the  warp  is  several  times  larger  than  the 
filling. 

Towards  the  ends  the  belt  is  narrowed  gradually 
by  joining  two  of  the  cords  in  one,  until  its  width 
is  diminished  about  one-third.  The  cords  are  then 
lengthened  out  by  adding  new  filaments,  and  braided 
into  an  open-work  band  or  bark  rope  about  an  inch  wide, 
and  flat ;  the  band  consisting  of  as  many  strands  as 


BURDEN    STRAP 

there  were  cords  at  the  end  of  the  belt.  The  surface 
of  these  belts  is  generally  smooth  and  even,  and  the 
belt  itself  so  closely  braided  as  to  leave  no  inter 
stices  through  which  the  eye  could  penetrate.  When 
threads  of  different  colors  were  used,  the  belt  was 
variegated  simply,  or  small  figures  were  woven  in  it 
for  ornament. 

Another  species  of  burden  strap,  of  more  expedi 
tious  manufacture,  was  made  by  placing  the  warp 
cords  side  by  side,  and  stitching  them  through  and 
through  with  bark  thread,  in  which  case  the  cords 
themselves  were  made  larger  than  in  the  ordinary 
burden  strap.  For  stitching,  a  hickory  or  bone 
needle,  without  an  eye,  was  used  in  ancient  times. 
As  the  cords  consisted  of  two  strong  threads  twisted 
into  one,  the  stitching  thread  was  passed  through 
each  cord,  between  its  two  parts,  from  one  side  to 
the  other  and  back  again.  Ropes  were  then  attached 
to  the  ends  of  the  belt,  and  the  work  was  completed. 

O-A-TA-OSE-KA,    OR    MOOSE    HAIR    BURDEN    STRAP 
GUS-HA-AH,    OR    DEER    HAIR    BURDEN   STRAP 

See  PLATE  facing  page  20 

Near  the  rump  of  the  moose  (Ten-da-ne),  and  near 
the  neck  between  the  shoulders,  there  are  small  tufts 
of  white  hair,  about  four  inches  in  length,  each  yield 
ing  a  small  handful.  These  hairs  were  carefully  pre 
served,  dyed  red,  blue  and  yellow,  and  used  in  the 
manufacture  of  the  finest  varieties  of  burden  straps. 
Similar  tufts  of  hair,  but  inferior  in  quality,  are  found 
upon  the  elk  (Jo-ra-da),  and  in  the  tail  of  the  deer 
(Na-o-geh}.  The  moose  hair  burden  strap  is  made 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

in  all  respects  as  above  described,  except  that  the 
thread,  which  serves  as  the  filling,  is  wound  with 
this  hair  upon  one  side  of  the  belt,  in  such  a  way 
as  either  to  cover  the  whole  face  of  the  belt,  or  to 
sprinkle  it  through  with  small  figures  at  the  pleasure 
of  the  maker.  The  one  represented  in  the  plate  is 
a  very  perfect  and  beautiful  piece  of  work,  nearly 
the  whole  upper  surface  of  the  belt  being  covered 
with  moose  hair,  white,  yellow,  red  and  blue,  which 
is  woven  into  the  belt  in  a  regular  figure.  It  was 
made  by  an  Onondaga  woman  on  Grand  river  in 
Upper  Canada,  where  it  was  purchased  in  October 
last.  Although  it  has  been  used  many  years,  and 
the  colors  have  lost  some  portion  of  their  original 
brilliancy,  it  is  yet  wholly  unimpaired,  and  a  remark 
able  specimen  of  finger  weaving,  as  well  as  of  artisan 
skill.  It  is  not  only  woven  compactly,  but  with  such 
evenness  of  thread  as  to  present  a  smooth  surface  and 
uniform  texture.  It  is  difficult  to  believe,  upon  an 
examination  of  the  under  side  of  the  belt,  that  it  is 
manufactured  with  bark  threads ;  and  perhaps  still 
more  incredible,  that  in  the  mechanism  of  this  belt 
can  be  found  the  primary  elements  of  the  art  of 
weaving. 

GA-NE-KO-WA-AH,  BURDEN    FRAME,    OR    LITTER 

This  is  an  ancient  contrivance  to  assist  in  carrying 
burdens.  Game,  cooking  utensils,  wood,  bark,  in  fact, 
everything  which  could  be  transported  by  hand  could 
be  borne  upon  this  frame.  They  were  a  necessary 
appendage  to  every  house,  to  the  traveller,  and  to 
the  hunter.  Sometimes  thev  were  elaborately  carved 


20 


0-A-TA-OSE-KA  OR  MOOSE  HAIR  BURDEN  STRAP. 


BURDEN    FRAME    OR    LITTER 

and  finished,  but  more  frequently  were  of  a  plain 
piece  of  hickory,  like  the  one  represented  in  the 
figure,  and  made  with  the  quickest  despatch.  The 
frame  consists  of  two  bows  of  hickory,  brought  to- 


Ga-ne-ko-wa-abt  Burden  Frame,  or  Litter. 

gether  at  right  angles,  and  fastened  to  each  other 
by  means  of  an  eye  and  head.  The  upright  part  of 
the  frame  is  the  same  as  the  horizontal  in  all  particu 
lars,  except  its  greater  length.  Strips  from  the  inner 
rind  of  basswood  bark  were  then  passed  between  the 
bows  both  length  and  crosswise,  and  fastened  to  the 
rim  pieces.  A  burden  strap  was  then  attached  to  the 
frame  at  the  point  where  the  strip  of  bark  passed 
across  the  upright  bow  from  side  to  side ;  and  from 


21 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

thence  it  passed  diagonally  across  to  the  horizontal 
part  of  the  frame,  to  the  point  where  the  lower  strip 
of  bark  crossed  that  part  of  the  frame.  There  were 
several  feet  of  rope  at  each  end,  reserved  to  lash 
around  whatever  burden  was  placed  upon  the  frame  ; 
but  when  the  frame  was  empty,  as  it  is  shown 
above,  these  ropes  were  passed  up  to  the  top  of  the 
frame  and  there  secured.  After  being  loaded  the 
frame  was  placed  upon  the  back,  and  the  burden 
strap  passed  over  the  head  and  placed  across  the 
chest.  If  the  burden  was  very  heavy  it  was  cus 
tomary  to  use  two  straps,  one  across  the  chest,  and 
the  other  against  the  forehead.  At  the  present  day 
the  burden  frame  is  still  in  use. 

Bark  vessels  and  dishes  of  various  kinds  were  in  com 
mon  use  among  them.  The  bark  barrel,  Ga-no'-qua, 
was  of  the  number.(124)  It  was  made  of  the  inner 
rind  of  red-elm  bark,  or  of  black-ash  bark,  the  grain 
running  around  the  barrel.  Up  the  side  it  was  stitched 
firmly,  and  had  a  bottom  and  a  lid  secured  in  the  same 
manner.  Such  barrels  were  used  to  store  charred 
corn,  beans,  dried  fruit,  seeds,  and  a  great  variety  of 
articles. 

When  corn  was  buried  in  pits  or  caches,  it  was 
usually  put  in  bark  barrels  of  this  description.  Dur 
ing  the  war  of  1812,  when  the  British  forces  were 
expected  over  the  frontier,  the  Senecas  at  Tonawanda, 
who  had  enlisted  in  the  American  army,  buried  their 
corn  in  bark  barrels,  after  the  ancient  custom.  These 
barrels  were  made  of  all  sizes,  from  those  of  sufficient 
capacity  to  hold  three  bushels,  to  those  large  enough  for 
a  peck.  Such  barrels  were  found  in  every  family  in 


22 


BARK    VESSELS 

ancient  times,  and  among  other  purposes  to  which 
they  were  devoted,  they  were  made  repositories  for 
articles  of  apparel  and  personal  ornaments.  They 


G'a-sna  Ga-ose-ba,  or  Bark  Barrel. 

were  very  durable,   and  when   properly   taken  care  of 
would  last  a  hundred  years. 

GA-O-WO',    OR    BARK    TRAY 

Trays  of  this  description  are  found  in  every  Indian 
family.  They  serve  a  variety  of  purposes,  but  are 
chiefly  used  for  kneading,  or  rather  preparing  corn 
bread.  A  strip  of  elm-bark,  of  the  requisite  dimen 
sions,  was  rounded  and  gathered  up  at  the  ends,  so  as 

23 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I R O ^U O  I S 

to  form  a  shallow  concavity.  Around  the  rim,  both 
outside  and  in,  splints  of  hickory  were  adjusted,  and 
stitched  through  and  through  with  the  bark.  These 
trays  were  of  all  sizes,  from  those  of  sufficient  capacity 
to  contain  one,  to  those  large  enough  for  ten  pecks. 
The  rough  bark  was  removed  from  the  outside,  and 
the  vessel  within  became  smooth  with  usage.  They 


Ga-o-zuo' ,  or  Bark  Tray. 

made  durable  and  convenient  articles  for  holding  corn 
meal,  for  preparing  corn  bread,  and  for  many  other 
purposes. 

Trapping  game  of  all  kinds,  from  the  bear  and  deer 
to  the  quail  and  snipe,  was  a  common  practice.  For 
deer,  a  young  tree  was  bent  over  and  held  in  this 
position  by  the  mechanism  of  the  trap.  When  sprung 
a  noose  was  fastened  around  the  hind  leg  of;  the  deer, 
and  he  was  drawn  up  in  the  air  by  the  unsprung  tree. 
Bear  traps  were  constructed  in  such  a  way  as  to  let 
down  a  heavy  timber  upon  the  back  of  the  animal, 
when  sprung,  and  thus  pin  him  to  the  earth.  Nets  of 
bark  twine  were  also  spread  for  pigeons  and  quails. 
A  simple  bird  trap  for  small  birds  consists  of  a 
rounding  strip  of  elm  bark  about  eight  inches  long  by 

24 


BARK    CANOE 

four  wide,  with  an  eye  cut  in  one  end  and  a  piece  of 
bark  twine  with  a  noose  at  the  end  of  it,  attached  to 
the  other.  After  the  bark  is  secured  upon  the  ground, 
a  few  kernels  of  corn  are  dropped  through  the  eye 
upon  the  ground,  and  a  noose  adjusted  around  it. 
When  a  bird  attempts  to  pick  up  the  corn  the  ruffled 
plumage  of  the  neck  takes  up  the  string,  and  brings 


Bird  Trap. 

the  noose  around  the  neck,  which  is  tightened  the 
moment  the  bird  attempts  to  fly,  and  either  strangles 
or  holds  it  in  captivity.  The  trap  is  said  to  be  very 
successful. 

GA-SNA'    GA-O-WO',    OR    BARK    CANOE 

In  the  construction  of  the  bark  canoe,  the  Iroquois 
exercised  considerable  taste  and  skill.  The  art  appears 
to  have  been  common  to  all  the  Indian  races  within 
the  limits  of  the  republic,  and  the  mode  of  construc 
tion  much  the  same.  Birch  bark  was  the  best  mate 
rial  ;  but  as  the  canoe  birch  did  not  grow  within  the 
home  territories  of  the  Iroquois,  they  generally  used 
the  red-elm,  and  bitternut-hickory.  The  canoe  figured 
in  the  plate  (II.  3),  is  made  of  the  bark  of  the 
red-elm,  and  consists  of  but  one  piece.  Having  taken 

25 


c*lvACu? 


C 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

off  a  bark  of  the  requisite  length  and  width,  and  re 
moved  the  rough  outside,  it  was  shaped  in  the  canoe 
form.  Rim  pieces  of  white-ash,  or  other  elastic  wood, 
of  the  width  of  the  hand,  were  then  run  around  the 
edge,  outside  and  in,  and  stitched  through  and  through 
with  the  bark  itself.  In  stitching,  they  used  bark 
thread  or  twine,  and  splints.  The  ribs  consisted  of 
narrow  strips  of  ash,  which  were  set  about  a  foot  apart 
along  the  bottom  of  the  canoe,  and  having  been  turned 
up  the  sides,  were  secured  under  the  rim.  Each  end  of 
the  canoe  was  fashioned  alike,  the  two  side  pieces  in 
clining  towards  each  other  until  they  united,  and  formed 
a  sharp  and  vertical  prow.  In  size,  these  canoes  varied 
from  twelve  feet,  with  sufficient  capacity  to  carry  two 
men,  to  forty  feet  with  sufficient  capacity  for  thirty. 
The  one  figured  in  the  plate  is  about  twenty-five  feet 
in  length,  and  its  tonnage  estimated  at  two  tons,  about 
half  that  of  the  ordinary  bateau.  Birch  bark  retained 
its  place  without  warping,  but  the  elm  and  hickory 
bark  canoes  were  exposed  to  this  objection.  After 
being  used,  they  were  drawn  out  of  the  water  to  dry. 
One  of  the  chief  advantages  of  these  canoes,  especially 
the  birch  bark,  was  their  extreme  lightness,  which  often 
became  a  matter  of  some  moment  from  the  flood  wood 
and  water-falls,  which  obstructed  the  navigation  of  the 
inland  rivers.  Two  men  could  easily  transport  these 
light  vessels  around  these  obstacles,  and  even  from  one 
river  to  another  when  the  portage  was  not  long. 

For  short  excursions  one  person  usually  paddled  the 
canoe,  standing  up  in  the  stern  ;  if  more  than  two,  and 
on  a  long  expedition,  they  were  seated  at  equal  distances 
upon  each  side  alternately.  In  the  fur  trade  these 

26 


SAP-TUB 

canoes  were  extensively  used.  They  coasted  lakes 
Erie  and  Ontario,  and  turning  up  the  Oswego  river 
into  the  Oneida  lake,  they  went  from  thence  over  the 
carrying  place  into  the  Mohawk,  which  they  descended 
to  Schenectady.  They  would  usually  carry  about 
twelve  hundred  pounds  of  fur.  At  the  period  of  the 
invasions  of  the  Iroquois  territories  by  the  French, 
large  fleets  of  these  canoes  were  formed  for  the  con 
veyance  of  troops  and  provisions.  With  careful  usage 
they  would  last  several  years. 


Ga-o-ivo'y  or  Bark  Sap-tub. 

Our  Indian  population  have  been  long  in  the  habit 
of  manufacturing  sugar  from  the  maple.  Whether  they 
learned  the  art  from  us,  or  we  received  it  from  them, 
is  uncertain. (87)  One  evidence,  at  least,  of  its  antiquity 
among  them,  is  to  be  found  in  one  of  their  ancient  re 
ligious  festivals,  instituted  to  the  maple,  and  called  the 
Maple  dance.  The  sap-tub  is  a  very  neat  contrivance, 
and  surpasses  all  other  articles  of  this  description. 
Our  farmers  may  safely  borrow,  in  this  one  particular, 
and  with  profit  substitute  this  Indian  invention  for  the 
rough  and  wasteful  one  of  their  own  contrivance. 

27 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I  R  O      U  O  I  S 


A  strip  of  bark  about  three  feet  in  length  by  two  in 
width,  makes  the  tub.  The  rough  bark  is  left  upon 
the  bottom  and  sides.  At  the  point  where  the  bark  is 
to  be  turned  up  to  form  the  ends,  the  outer  bark  is  re 
moved  ;  the  inner  rind  is  then  turned  up,  gathered  to 
gether  in  small  folds  at  the  top,  and  tied  around  with 
a  splint.  It  is  then  ready  for  use,  and  will  last  several 
seasons.  Aside  from  the  natural  fact  that  the  sap 
would  be  quite  at  home  in  the  bark  tub,  and  its  flavor 
preserved  untainted,  it  is  more  durable  and  capacious 
than  the  wooden  one,  and  more  readily  made. 

The  Senecas  use  three  varieties  of  corn  :  the  White 
(O-na-d-ga-ant),  the  Red  (Tic-ne\  and  the  White  Flint 
(Ha-gd-wa).(m)  Corn  is,  and  always  has  been,  their 
staple  article  of  food.  When  ready  to  be  harvested, 
they  pick  the  ears,  strip  down  the  husks,  and  braid 
them  together  in  bunches,  with  about  twenty  ears  in 
each.  They  are  then  hung  up  ready  for  use.  The 
white  flint  ripens  first,  and  is  the  favorite  corn  for  hom- 
mony  ;  the  red  next,  and  is  used  principally  for  char 
ring  and  drying;  the  white  last,  and  is  the  corn  most 
esteemed  by  the  Indians.  It  is  used  for  bread,  and 
supplies  the  same  place  with  them  that  wheat  does  with 
us.  They  shell  their  corn  by  hand,  and  pound  it  into 
flour  in  wooden  mortars.  In  two  hours  from  the  time 
the  corn  is  taken  from  the  ear  it  is  ready  to  eat,  in  the 
form  of  unleavened  bread.(8)  It  is  hulled  in  the  first 
instance,  by  boiling  in  ashes  and  water;  after  the  skin 
is  thus  removed  from  each  kernel,  it  is  thoroughly 
washed,  and  pounded  into  flour  or  meal  in  a  mortar, 
of  which  a  representation  will  be  found  above.  Hav 
ing  been  passed  through  a  sieve  basket,  to  remove  the 

28 


CORN    MORTAR 


Ga-ne'-ga-ta,  or  Corn  Mortar. 

Mortar,  2  feet  in  diameter.      Pounder,  4  feet:  in  length. 
29 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO9UOIS 

^^> 

chit  and  coarser  grains,  it  is  made  into  loaves  or  cakes 
about  an  inch  in  thickness,  and  six  inches  in  diameter ; 
which  are  cooked  by  boiling  them  in  water.  The 


Ta-~a-go-gen-ta-quat  or  Bread  Turner. 
3^  feet. 

bread  turner  is  used,  as  its  name  indicates,  to  handle 
these  loaves  while  under  the  process  of  cooking.  Upon 
bread  of  this  description,  and  upon  the  fruits  of  the 
chase,  the  Indian  has  principally  subsisted  from  time 
immemorial. (84) 

The  practice  of  charring  corn  is  of  great  antiquity 
among  the  red  races.  In  this  condition  it  is  preserved 
for  years  without  injury.  Caches  or  pits  of  charred 
corn  have  been  found  in  various  parts  of  the  country. 
The  Iroquois  were  in  the  habit  of  charring  corn  to 
preserve  it  for  domestic  use.  The  Senecas  still  do  the 
same.  For  this  use  the  red  corn  is  preferred.  When 
green  the  corn  is  picked,  and  roasted  in  the  field  before 
a  long  fire,  the  ears  being  set  up  on  end  in  a  row.  It 
is  not  charred  or  blackened  entirely,  but  roasted  suffi 
ciently  to  dry  up  the  moisture  in  each  'kernel.  It  is 
then  shelled  and  dried  in  the  sun.  The  splint  sieve 
represented  in  the  figure  was  used  to  sift  out  the  fine 
ashes  which  might  adhere  to  the  kernel.  In  this  state 
the  corn  is  chiefly  used  by  hunting  parties,  and  for  sub- 

3° 


YA-WA-ODA-QUA    OR  NEEDLE  BOOK 


POP-CORN    SIEVE 

sistence  on  distant  excursions.  Its  bulk  and  weight 
having  been  diminished  about  half  by  the  two  pro 
cesses,  its  transportation  became  less  burdensome.  The 


Yun-des-ho-yon-da-gwat-ba,  or  Pop-corn  Sieve. 

red  races  seldom  formed  magazines  of  grain  to  guard 
against  distant  wants.  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that 
these  pits  of  charred  corn  owe  their  origin  to  the  sudden 
flight  of  the  inhabitants,  who  buried  their  dried  corn 
because  they  could  not  remove  it,  rather  than  to  a  desire 
to  provide  against  a  failure  of  the  harvest. 

There  was  another  method  of  curing  corn  in  its 
green  state,  quite  as  prevalent  as  the  former.  The 
corn  was  shaved  off  into  small  particles,  and  having 
been  baked  over  the  fire  in  pans  or  earthen  dishes,  it 
was  then  dried  in  the  sun.  In  this  condition  it  was 
preserved  for  winter  use. 

A  favorite  article  of  subsistence  was  prepared  from 
the  charred  corn.  It  was  parched  a  second  time,  after 
which,  having  been  mixed  with  about  a  third  part  of 
maple  sugar,  it  was  pounded  into  a  fine  flour.  This 
was  carried  in  the  bear-skin  pocket  of  the  hunter,  and 
upon  it  alone  he  subsisted  for  days  together. 

This  noble  grain,  one  of  the  gifts  of  the  Indian  to 

31 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

the  world,  is  destined,  eventually,  to  become  one  of 
the  staple  articles  of  human  consumption.  More  than 
half  of  our  republic  lies  within  the  embrace  of  the  trib 
utaries  of  the  Mississippi.  Upon  their  banks  are  the 
corn-growing  districts  of  the  country ;  and  there,  also, 
at  no  distant  day,  will  be  seated  the  millions  of  our 
race.  Experience  demonstrates  that  no  people  can 
rely  wholly  upon  exchanges  for  the  substance  of  their 
bread-stuffs,  but  that  they  must  look  chiefly  to  the 
soil  they  cultivate.  This  law  of  production  and  con 
sumption  is  destined  to  introduce  the  gradual  use  of 
corn  flour,  as  a  partial  substitute  at  least,  for  its  superior 
rival,  in  those  districts  where  it  is  the  natural  product 
of  the  soil.  In  the  southern  portions  of  our  country 
this  principle  is  already  attested,  by  the  fact  that  corn 
bread  enters  as  largely  into  human  consumption  as 
wheaten.  Next  to  wheat,  this  grain,  perhaps,  con 
tains  the  largest  amount  of  nutriment.  It  is  the 
cheapest  and  surest  of  all  the  grains  to  cultivate;  and 
is,  also,  the  cheapest  article  of  subsistence  known 
among  men.  Although  wheat  can  be  cultivated  in 
nearly  all  the  sections  of  the  country ;  although  its 
production  can  be  increased  to  an  unlimited  degree  by 
a  higher  agriculture  ;  we  have  yet  great  reason  to  be 
thankful  for  this  secondary  grain,  whose  reproductive 
energy  is  so  unmeasured  as  to  secure  our  entire  race, 
through  all  coming  time,  against  the  dangers  of 
scarcity,  or  the  pressure  of  want/85 

O-YEH'-GWA-A-WEH,    OR    INDIAN   TOBACCO 

Tobacco  is  another  gift  of  the  Indian  to  the  world; 
but  a  gift,  it  must  be  admitted,  of  questionable  utility. 

32 


TOBACCO 

We  call  both  corn  and  tobacco  the  legacy  of  the  red 
man  ;  as  these  indigenous  plants,  but  for  his  nurture 
and  culture  through  so  many  ages,  might  have  per 
ished,  like  other  varieties  of  the  fruits  of  the  earth. 
Many  of  our  choicest  fruits  owe  their  origin  to  vege 
table  combinations  entirely  fortuitous.  They  spring 
up  spontaneously,  flourish  for  a  season,  and  become 
extinct,  but  for  the  watchful  care  of  man.  Nature 
literally  pours  forth  her  vegetable  wealth,  and  buries 
beneath  her  advancing  exuberance  the  products 
of  the  past.  But  few  of  the  fruits  and  plants  and 
flowers  of  the  ancient  world  have  come  down  to  us 
unchanged;  and  still  other  plants,  perhaps,  have  per 
ished,  unknown,  in  the  openings  of  the  forest,  which 
contained  within  their  shrivelled  and  stinted  foliage 
the  germ  of  some  fruit,  or  grain,  or  plant,  which  might 
have  nourished  or  clothed  the  whole  human  family. 
We  may  therefore,  perchance,  owe  a  debt  to  the 
Indian,  in  these  particulars,  beyond  our  utmost  ac 
knowledgments/03' 

The  Senecas  still  cultivate  tobacco.  Its  name  sig 
nifies  "  The  only  Tobacco"  because  they  considered  this 
variety  superior  to  all  others.  It  is  raised  from  the 
seed,  which  is  sown  or  planted  in  the  spring,  and  re 
quires  but  little  cultivation.  The  leaves  are  picked 
early  in  the  fall,  when  their  color  first  changes  with 
the  frost,  and  when  dried  are  ready  for  use.  After 
the  first  year  it  grows  spontaneously,  from  the  seed 
shed  by  the  plant  when  fully  ripened.  If  the  plants 
become  too  thick,  which  is  frequently  the  case,  from 
their  vigorous  growth,  it  becomes  necessary  to  thin 

them  out,  as  the  leaves  diminish  in  size  with   their  in- 
VOL.  n. -3  33 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

crease  in  number.  This  tobacco  is  used  exclusively 
for  smoking.  The  custom  of  chewing  the  article  ap 
pears  to  have  been  derived  from  us.  Although  this 
tobacco  is  exceedingly  mild,  they  mingle  with  it  the 
leaves  of  the  sumac,  to  diminish  its  stimulating  prop 
erties/9'^  The  sumac  has  been  used  by  the  Indian 
to  temper  tobacco  from  time  immemorial. 

Several  varieties  of  the  bean  and  of  the  squash  (91) 
were  also  cultivated  by  the  Iroquois,  and  were  indige 
nous  in  the  American  soil.  They  regarded  the  corn, 
the  bean,  and  the  squash  as  the  special  gift  of  the 
Great  Spirit,  and  associated  them  together  under 
the  name  of  the  Three  Sisters.  They  also  used  the 
ground-nut  (apios  tuberosa\  as  a  species  of  potato, 
gathering  it  in  its  wild  state. 

The  snow-shoe  is  an  Indian  invention.  Upon  the 
deep  snows  which  accumulate  in  the  forest,  it  would 
be  nearly  impossible  to  travel  without  them.  They 
were  used  in  the  hunt,  and  in  warlike  expeditions 
undertaken  in  the  season  of  winter. 


GA-WEH'-GA,    OR    SNOW-SHOE 

The  snow-shoe  is  nearly  three  feet  in  length,  by 
about  sixteen  inches  in  width.  A  rim  of  hickory, 
bent  round  with  an  arching  front,  and  brought  to  a 
point  at  the  heel,  constituted  the  frame,  with  the 
addition  of  cross  pieces  to  determine  its  spread. 
Within  the  area,  with  the  exception  of  an  opening  for 
the  toe,  was  woven  a  net-work  of  deer  strings,  with 
interstices  about  an  inch  square.  The  ball  of  the  foot 
was  lashed  at  the  edge  of  this  opening  with  thongs, 

34 


SNOW-SHOE 

which  passed  around  the  heel  for  the  support  of  the 
foot.  The  heel  was  left  free  to  work  up  and  down, 
and  the  opening  was  designed  to  allow  the  toe  of  the 
foot  to  descend  below  the  surface  of  the  shoe,  as  the 
heel  is  raised  in  the  act  of  walking.  It  is  a  very 
simple  invention,  but  exactly  adapted  for  its  uses.  A 
person  familiar  with  the  snow-shoe  can  walk  as  rapidly 


Ga-weh'-ga,  or  Snow-shoe. 
2  feet  10  inches. 

upon  the  snow  as  without  it  upon  the  ground.  The 
Senecas  affirm  that  they  can  walk  fifty  miles  per  day 
upon  the  snow-shoe,  and  with  much  greater  rapidity 
than  without  it,  in  consequence  of  the  length  and  uni 
formity  of  the  step.  In  the  bear-hunt,  especially,  it 
is  of  the  greatest  service,  as  the  hunter  can  speedily 
overtake  the  bear,  who,  breaking  through  the  crust,  is 
enabled  to  move  but  slowly. (115) 

AH-DA-DA'-QUA,  OR  INDIAN    SADDLE 

This  is  an  Indian    invention,  but   came    originally 
from  the  west.      It  closely  resembles  the  saddle  of  the 

35 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I  R  O      U  0  1  S 


native    Mexicans  in   its  general   plan,  but  its  pommel 
is   not  as  high,  and  its  side-pieces  are  longer.     It  is 


still  used  among  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  west.  The 
frame  is  made  of  four  pieces  of  wood,  firmly  set  to 
gether,  over  which  is  a  covering  of  raw  hide.  The 
side-pieces  are  about  eighteen  inches  in  length,  six  in 
width,  and  about  an  inch  in  thickness,  at  the  centre, 
but  terminating  in  a  sharp  edge  above  and  below. 
In  front  the  pommel  rises  about  five  inches  above  the 
side-pieces.  It  is  made  of  a  stick  having  a  natural 

36 


AIR-GUN 

fork,  which  is  so  adjusted  as  to  embrace  the  side- 
pieces,  and  determine  the  spread  of  the  saddle.  An 
other  piece,  in  the  same  manner,  embraced  the 
side-pieces  at  the  opposite  end,  rising  several  inches 
above,  and  descending  nearly  to  their  lower  edges. 
These  side-pieces  at  the  top  are  about  three  inches 
apart,  leaving  a  space  for  the  back-bone  of  the  horse. 
The  fastenings  of  the  saddle,  including  those  of  the 
stirrup,  were  originally  of  ropes,  made  of  buffalo's 
hair.  Triangular  stirrups  of  wood  completed  the  trap 
pings  of  the  saddle.  As  the  Iroquois  seldom  made 
use  of  the  Indian  horse,  the  saddle  with  them  was 
rather  an  accidental,  than  a  usual  article.  The  speci 
men  above  represented  is  of  Seneca  manufacture. 


Ga-ga-an-da,  or  Air-gun  ,•  and  Ga-no't  or  Arrow. 

Air-gun,  6  feet.      Arrow,  2  feet. 

The  air-gun  is  claimed  as  an  Indian  invention.(116) 
It  is  a  simple  tube  or  barrel,  about  six  feet  in  length, 
and  an  inch  in  diameter,  and  having  a  half-inch  bore. 
It  is  made  of  alder,  and  also  of  other  wood,  which 
is  bored  by  some  artificial  contrivance.  A  very  slen 
der  arrow,  about  two  feet  in  length,  with  a  sharp 
point,  is  the  missile.  Upon  the  foot  of  the  arrow, 
the  down  or  floss  of  the  thistle  is  fastened  on  entire, 
with  sinew.  This  down  is  soft  and  yielding,  and 
when  the  arrow  is  placed  in  the  barrel,  fills  it  air 
tight.  The  arrow  is  then  discharged  by  blowing.  It 
is  used  for  bird-shooting. 

37 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 


Ta-o'  -d'd-was-ta,  or  Indian  Flute. 

\y2  feet. 

This  instrument  is  unlike  any  known  among  us, 
but  it  clearly  resembles  the  clarionet.  Its  name  signi 
fies  "  a  blow  pipe."  It  is  usually  made  of  red  cedar, 
is  about  eighteen  inches  in  length,  and  above  an  inch 
in  diameter.  The  finger  holes,  six  in  number,  are 
equidistant.  Between  them  and  the  mouth-piece, 
which  is  at  the  end,  is  the  whistle,  contrived  much 
upon  the  same  principle  as  the  common  whistle.  It 
makes  six  consecutive  notes,  from  the  lowest,  on  a 
rising  scale*  The  seventh  note  is  wanting,  but  the 
three  or  four  next  above  are  regularly  made.  This  is 
the  whole  compass  of  the  instrument.  As  played  by 
the  Indians  it  affords  a  species  of  wild  and  plaintive 
music.  It  is  claimed  as  an  Indian  invention. 


Yun-ga-sa,  or  Tobacco  Pouch. 


The  tobacco  pouch  is  made  of  the  skin  of  some 
small  animal,  which  is  taken  off  entire.  It  was 
anciently  an  indispensable  article,  and  was  worn  in  the 
girdle.  They  were  usually  made  of  white  weasel, 
mink,  squirrel,  and  fisher  skin. 

Bags  or  pockets  of  this  description,  made  of  the 

38 


FIRE    DRILL 

skins  of  animals,  were  in  constant  use  among  the  Iro- 
quois  in  ancient  times.  They  were  hung  to  the  girdle 
ot  the  warrior  and  the  hunter,  and  would  contain 


Gu-taf-he-o  Ga-ya-ah,  or  Fawn  Skin  Bag. 

within  their  narrow  folds  sufficient  subsistence  for  a 
long  expedition,  thus  answering  very  perfectly  the 
purposes  of  the  knapsack.  At  home  they  were 
used  as  repositories  for  the  safe  keeping  of  choice 
articles. 

The  Da-ya-ya-da-ga-nea-td  is  an  Indian  invention, 
of  great  antiquity.  Its  rudeness  may  excite  a  smile,  in 
this  day  of  lucifer  matches,  but  yet  the  step  backward  to 
the  steel  and  flint  is  about  the  same,  as  from  the  latter 
to  the  contrivance  in  question. (117)  Not  knowing  the 

39 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    JROQUOIS 

use  of  metals  or  of  chemicals,  it  was  the  only  method 
of  creating  fire  known  to  the  red  man.  It  consisted 
of  an  upright  shaft,  about  four  feet  in  length,  and  an 


Da-ya-ya-da-ga'-nea-ta. 

inch  in  diameter,  with  a  small  wheel  set  upon  the 
lower  part,  to  give  it  momentum.  In  a  notch  at  the 
top  of  the  shaft  was  set  a  string,  attached  to  a  bow 
about  three  feet  in  length.  The  lower  point  rested 
upon  a  block  of  dry  wood,  near  which  are  placed 
small  pieces  of  punk.  When  ready  to  use,  the  string 
is  first  coiled  around  the  shaft,  by  turning  it  with  the 
hand.  The  bow  is  then  pulled  downwards,  thus  un 
coiling  the  string,  and  revolving  the  shaft  towards  the 

40 


INVENTIONS 

left.  By  the  momentum  given  to  the  wheel,  the 
string  is  again  coiled  up  in  a  reverse  manner,  and  the 
bow  again  drawn  up.  The  bow  is  again  pulled  down 
wards,  and  the  revolution  of  the  shaft  reversed, 
uncoiling  the  string,  and  recoiling  it  as  before.  This 
alternate  revolution  of  the  shaft  is  continued,  until 
sparks  are  emitted  from  the  point  where  it  rests  upon 
the  piece  of  dry  wood  below.  Sparks  are  produced 
in  a  few  moments  by  the  intensity  of  the  friction,  and 
ignite  the  punk,  which  speedily  furnishes  a  fire. 


O-no-nea  Gos-ha' -da,  or  Corn-busk  Salt  Bottle. 

In  the  art  of  basket-work,  in  all  its  varieties,  the 
Indian  women  also  excel.  Their  baskets  are  made 
with  a  neatness,  ingenuity,  and  simplicity  which  de 
serve  the  highest  praise.  Splint  is  the  chief  material, 
but  they  likewise  use  a  species  of  flag,  and  also  corn- 
husks.  Among  these  various  patterns,  which  are  as 
diversified  as  convenience  or  ingenuity  could  suggest, 
the  most  perfectly  finished  is  the  sieve  basket.  It  is 
designed  for  sifting  corn  meal  to  remove  the  chit,  and 

41' 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

coarser  particles,  after  the  corn  has  been  pounded  into 
flour.  The  bottom  of  the  basket  is  wove  in  such  fine 
checks  as  to  answer  very  perfectly  all  the  ends  of  the 
wire  sieve.  Another  variety  of  open  basket  was  made 
of  corn-husks  and  flags,  very  closely  and  ingeniously 
braided.  In  their-  domestic  economy,  the  basket  an 
swered  a  multitude  of  purposes.  Bottles  for  salt  were 
made  of  corn-husks  in  the  forms  represented  in  the 
figures. 


Tont-ka-do-qua,  or  Basket  Fish  Net. 
3  feet. 

The  basket  net  was  made  of  splint  in  a  conical 
form,  about  three  feet  in  length,  fifteen  inches  in 
diameter  at  the  mouth,  and  six  at  the  small  end. 
In  using  it,  the  fisherman  stood  in  the  rapids  of  the 
creek  or  river,  where  the  water  rippled  over  the  stony 
bottom,  and  with  a  stick  or  rod  managed  to  direct 
the  fish  into  the  partly  submerged  basket,  as  they 
attempted  to  shoot  down  the  rapid.  When  one  was 
heard  to  flutter  in  the  basket,  it  was  at  once  raised 
from  the  water,  and  the  fish  was  found  secure  within 

'  42 


BASKET-MAKING 

it.  In  those  forest  days,  when  fish  abounded  in  every 
stream,  it  was  an  easy  matter  thus  to  capture  them 
in  large  numbers. 

Black-ash  furnishes  the  only  splint  used  by  the 
Iroquois,  and  perhaps  the  same  may  be  said  of  all 
other  Indians.  They  choose  a  tree  about  a  foot  in 
diameter  and  free  from  limbs,  after  which  they  cut 
off  a  stick  about  six  feet  in  length.  After  removing 
the  bark  they  pound  the  stick  with  some  heavy 
implement  to  start  the  splints,  which  can  thus  be 
made  to  run  off  with  the  utmost  regularity  and  uni 
formity  of  thickness.  This  process  is  continued 
until  the  log  is  stripped  down  to  the  heart.  These 
splints,  which  are  about  three  inches  wide  and  an 
eighth  of  an  inch  thick,  are  afterwards  subdivided 
both  ways  until  reduced  to  the  required  width  and 
thickness.  When  resplit  into  thinner  strips  the 
splints  have  a  white  and  smooth  surface.  If  the 
baskets  are  to  be  variegated,  the  splints  are  dyed 
upon  one  side  before  they  are  woven,  and  are  also 
moistened  to  make  them  pliable  before  they  are  used. 
The  patient  industry  of  the  Indian  female  while  en 
gaged  in  this  manual  labor,  and  her  skill  and  taste  are 
alike  exemplified  in  this  interesting  manufacture. 

Their  wooden  implements  were  often  elaborately 
carved.  Those  upon  which  the  most  labor  was  ex 
pended  were  the  ladles,  Ah-do-qua-sa,  of  various  sizes, 
used  for  eating  hommony  and  soup.  They  were  their 
substitute  for  the  spoon,  and  hence  every  Indian 
family  was  supplied  with  a  number.  The  end  of  the 
handle  was  usually  surmounted  with  the  figure  of  an 
animal,  as  a  squirrel,  a  hawk,  or  a  beaver,  some  of  them 

43 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I R  O  QU  O  I S 

with  a  human  figure  in  a  sitting  posture,  others  with 
a  group  of  such  figures  in  various  attitudes,  as  those 
of  wrestling  or  embracing.  These  figures  are  carved 
with  considerable  skill  and  correctness  of  proportion. 


Ab-do-qua-sa,  or  Ladle. 

Upon  the  hommony-stirrer,  Got -go-ne-os-ha ,  an  article 
used  in  every  Indian  household  for  making  hommony, 
succotash  or  soup  and  for  many  other  purposes, 
similar  ornaments  were  bestowed.  It  is  usually  from 
three  to  four  feet  in  length,  and  made  of  hard  maple, 

44 


WOODEN    UTENSILS 

or  other  tough  wood,  in  the  general  form  of  the  one 
represented  in  the  figure.  This  hommony  blade  is 
made  out  of  one  piece  of  wood,  although  the  end 
piece  is  attached  to  the  blade  by  a  link.  In  the  end 
piece  are  two  wooden  balls,  also  cut  out  of  the  solid 


Got'-go-ne-os-ba',  or  Hommony  Blade. 
4  feet. 

wood  within  the  frame  in  which  they  are  confined. 
For  a  wooden  utensil  it  is  beautifully  made.  Bowls, 
pitchers  and  other  vessels  of  knot  are  common  in  In 
dian  families,  and  are  worked  out  with  great  labor  and 
care.  In  ancient  times  the  aged  and  infirm  were 
wont  to  assist  themselves  in  walking  with  a  simple 
staff,  but  in  later  times  the  cane,  Ah-da-dis-ha,  has 
been  substituted.  Like  their  other  utensils  of  wood, 
the  modern  cane  is  elaborately  carved. 

The  original  ladle  was  of  bark  and  a  very  simple 
contrivance,  as  will  appear  from  the  representation. 
It  was  made  of  red  elm  bark,  and  would  hold  but 
little  more  than  the  common  spoon.  In  ancient 
times  ladles  of  this  description  only  were  used  ;  but 
they  were  laid  aside  when  the  possession  of  metallic  im- 

45 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

plements  enabled  them  to  substitute  the  present  one  of 
wood.     The  ladle  is,  without  doubt,  an  original  Indian 


Bark  Ladle. 

utensil,  and  in  all  probability  the  origin  of  the  common 
wooden  ladle  still  in  general  use  among  our  own  people. 

GA-KA'-AH,    OR    SKIRT 
See  PLATE,  I.   122 

The  modern  female  costume  of  the  Iroquois  is  both 
striking  and  graceful.  Some  of  them  would  excite 
admiration  by  the  exactness  of  their  adjustment  and 
the  delicacy,  even  brilliancy  of  their  bead-work  em- 

46 


COSTUMES 

broidery.  They  use,  to  this  day,  the  same  articles  of 
apparel  in  form  and  fashion,  as  in  ancient  times,  but 
they  have  substituted  materials  of  foreign  manufac 
ture/11^  The  porcupine  quill  has  given  place  to  the 
bead,  and  the  skins  of  animals  to  the  cotton  fabric  and 
the  broadcloth.  Much  taste  is  exhibited  in  the  bead- 
work,  which  is  so  conspicuous  in  the  female  costume. 
The  colors  are  blended  harmoniously,  and  the  pat 
terns  are  ingeniously  devised  and  skilfully  executed. 
It  is  sufficiently  evident,  from  the  specimens  of  their 
handiwork,  that  the  Indian  female  can  be  taught  to 
excel  with  the  needle.  The  Ga-ka-ah,  or  Skirt,  of  one 
of  which  the  plate  (I.  12*2)  is  an  accurate  copy,  is  usu 
ally  of  blue  broadcloth,  and  elaborately  embroidered 
with  bead-work.  It  requires  two  yards  of  cloth,  which 
is  worn  with  the  selvedge  at  the  top  and  bottom  ;  the 
skirt  being  secured  about  the  waist,  and  descending 
nearly  to  the  moccason.  Around  the  lower  edge,  and 
part  way  up  the  centre  in  front,  it  is  tastefully  and 
beautifully  embroidered.  In  one  of  the  angles  a 
figure  is  worked  representing  a  tree  or  flower.  The 
cloth  skirt  is  universally  worn  among  the  present  Iro- 
quois,  but  they  are  not  usually  as  richly  embroidered, 
or  of  as  fine  material  as  the  one  represented  in  the 
plate.  This  is  of  Seneca  workmanship,  and  is  a  rare 
specimen  of  Indian  needlework. 

The  skirt  shown  in  this  plate  (II.  47)  is  without 
question  the  finest  specimen  of  Indian  bead-work  ever 
exhibited.  Next  to  the  article  itself  the  plate  will  fur 
nish  the  best  description.  It  was  made  by  Miss 
Caroline  G.  Parker  (Ga-h'd'-nd),  a  Seneca  Indian  girl, 
now  being  educated  in  the  State  Normal  School,  to 

47 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

whose  finished  taste  and  patient  industry  the  State 
is  indebted  for  most  of  the  many  beautiful  speci 
mens  of  bead-work  embroidery  now  in  the  Indian 
collection.(14) 

In  doing  this  work,  the  eye  and  the  taste  are  the  chief 
reliances,  as  they  use  no  patterns  except  as  they  may 
have  seen  them  in  the  works  of  others.  In  combin 
ing  colors  certain  general  rules,  the  result  of  experience 
and  observation  are  followed,  but  beyond  them  each 
one  pursues  her  own  fancy.  They  never  seek  for 
strong  contrasts,  but  break  the  force  of  them  by  inter 
posing  white,  that  the  colors  may  blend  harmoniously. 
Thus  light  blue  and  pink  beads,  with  white  beads 
between  them,  is  a  favorable  combination  ;  dark  blue 
and  yellow,  with  white  between,  is  another ;  red  and 
light  blue,  with  white  between,  is  another ;  and  light 
purple  and  dark  purple,  with  white  between,  is  a 
fourth.  Others  might  be  added  were  it  necessary. 
If  this  bead-work  is  critically  examined  it  will  be 
found  that  these  general  rules  are  strictly  observed  ; 
and  in  so  far  bead-work  embroidery  may  be  called 
a  systematic  art.  The  art  of  flowering,  as  they 
term  it,  is  the  most  difficult  part  of  bead-work,  as  it 
requires  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  appearance  of 
the  flower,  and  the  structure  and  condition  of  the 
plant  at  the  stage  in  which  it  is  represented.  These 
imitations  are  frequently  made  with  great  delicacy, 
of  which  a  very  favorable  exhibition  may  be  seen  in 
the  plate,  in  the  flower  introduced  at  the  angle  of 
the  skirt. 


48 


GA-KA-AH  OR  SKIRT, 


COSTUMES 

GISE'-HA,    OR    PANTALETTE 

See   PLATE,   I.    274 

This  article  of  female  apparel  is  also  universally 
worn.  It  is  usually  made  of  red  broadcloth,  and  or 
namented  with  a  border  of  bead-work  around  the 
lower  edge,  and  also  part  way  up  the  side  at  the  point 
which  becomes  the  front  of  the  pantalette.  It  is 
secured  above  the  knee,  and  falls  down  upon  the 
moccason.  In  ancient  times  the  Gisef-ha  was  made  of 
deer-skin  and  embroidered  with  porcupine-quill  work. 
As  the  moccason  is  elsewhere  described,  nothing  fur 
ther  need  be  said  in  relation  to  it  as  a  part  of  the 
female  costume. 

AH-DE-A'-DA-WE-SA,  OR    OVER-DRESS 

See   PLATES,   I.    190,   191 

The  over-dress  is  usually  of  muslin  or  calico  of  the 
highest  colors.  It  is  loosely  adjusted  to  the  person, 
gathered  slightly  at  the  waist,  and  falls  part  way  down 
the  skirt.  Around  the  lower  edge  is  a  narrow  border 
of  bead-work.  In  front  it  is  generally  buttoned  with 
silver  broaches,  arranged  as  represented  in  the  plate. 
They  are  usually  larger  in  size,  and  arranged  in  paral 
lel  rows,  as  represented  in  the  female  costume  in  the 
frontispiece.  The  Indian  female  delights  in  a  profu 
sion  of  silver  ornaments,  consisting  of  silver  broaches 
of  various  patterns  and  sizes,  from  those  which  are  six 
inches  in  diameter,  and  worth  as  many  dollars,  down  to 
those  of  the  smallest  size,  valued  at  a  sixpence. 
Silver  ear-rings  and  finger-rings  of  various  designs, 
silver  beads,  hat  bands  and  crosses,  are  also  found  in 

VOL.  ir.  —  4  49 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

their  paraphernalia.  These  crosses,  relics  of  Jesuit 
influence,  are  frequently  eight  inches  in  length,  of 
solid  silver,  and  very  valuable,  but  they  are  looked 
upon  by  them  simply  in  the  light  of  ornaments. 

Finger  and  ear  rings  of  the  same  material,  specimens 
of  which  may  be  seen  in  the  plate  (II.  50),  were  also 
very  common.  The  most  of  these  silver  ornaments  in 
later  years  have  been  made  by  Indian  silversmiths,  one 
of  whom  may  be  found  in  nearly  every  Indian  village. 
They  are  either  made  of  brass,  of  silver,  or  from  silver 
coins  pounded  out,  and  then  cut  into  patterns  with 
metallic  instruments.  The  ear  rings  figured  in  the 
plate  were  made  out  of  bar  silver,  by  an  Onondaga 
silversmith  on  Grand  river,  under  the  direction  of  the 
writer. 

E'-YOSE,    OR    BLANKET 

This  indispensable  and  graceful  garment  is  of  blue 
or  green  broadcloth,  of  which  it  requires  two  yards. 
It  falls  from  the  head  or  neck  in  natural  folds  the 
width  of  the  cloth,  as  the  selvedges  are  at  the  top 
and  bottom,  and  it  is  gathered  round  the  person  like 
a  shawl.  It  is  worn  very  gracefully  by  the  Indian 
female,  and  makes  a  becoming  article  of  apparel. 

By  some  singular  impulse  of  fancy,  the  fur  hat  has 
been  appropriated  by  the  women  as  a  part  of  the 
female  costume,  until  among  the  modern  Iroquois  it 
is  more  common  to  see  this  part  of  the  white  man's 
apparel  upon  the  head  of  the  Indian  female  than  upon 
that  of  the  warrior.  Hat  bands  of  silver,  or  of  broaches 
strung  together,  or  of  long  silver  beads,  are  indispen 
sable  ornaments  on  public  occasions.  Sometimes,  but 
rarely,  clusters  of  feathers  are  attached  to  the  hat. 
•  5° 


i.AH-WAS-HA  OR  SILVER  EAR  RING 
fc.AH-NE-A-HUS-HA  SILVER    FINGER  RINGS 
S.AN-NE-AS-GA  OR   SILVER    BROACH 


COSTUMES 

GA'-TE-AS-HA',    OR    NECKLACE 

See  PLATE,   I.    254 

The  necklace  is  made  of  silver  and  wampum  beads, 
and  has  a  silver  cross  suspended.  The  beads  usually 
worn  by  Indian  women  are  of  common  glass.  In 
ancient  times  it  was  customary  to  wear  necklaces  of 
the  teeth  of  animals,  but  such  barbarous  ornaments 
were  long  since  repudiated  by  the  Iroquois.  A  species 
of  shoulder  ornament  in  the  nature  of  a  necklace  made 
of  a  fragrant  marsh  grass,  called  by  the  Senecas 
Ga-a-o'-ta-ges,  is  very  generally  worn.  Several  strands 
or  cords  are  braided  from  this  grass,  of  the  requisite 
length,  and  tied  into  one  string.  At  intervals  of  three 
or  four  inches,  small  round  discs,  made  of  the  same 
material,  sometimes  covered  upon  the  upper  face  with 
bead-work,  are  attached.  It  thus  makes  a  conspicuous 
ornament,  and  emits  an  agreeable  odor,  furnishing  a 
substitute  for  perfumery. 

GA-SWEH-TA   OTE-KO-A,   OR    BELT    OF   WAMPUM 

OTE-KO-A,    OR    STRING    OF    WAMPUM 

See  PLATE,  II.    52,  FIGURES  I  and  2 

The  use  of  wampum  reaches  back  to  a  remote 
period  upon  this  continent.  It  was  an  original 
Indian  notion  which  prevailed  among  the  Iroquois 
as  early,  at  least,  as  the  formation  of  the  League. 
The  primitive  wampum  of  the  Iroquois  consisted 
of  strings  of  a  small  fresh  water  spiral  shell,  called 
in  the  Seneca  dialect  Ote-ko-a,the  name  of  which  has 
been  bestowed  upon  the  modern  wampum.  When 

5r 


LEAGUE    OF   THE   IRO^UOIS 

Da-g'd-no-wJ-d'dy  the  founder  of  the  League,  had  per 
fected  its  organic  provisions,  he  produced  several 
strings  of  this  ancient  wampum  of  his  own  arrang 
ing,  and  taught  them  its  use  in  recording  the  pro 
visions  of  the  compact  by  which  the  several  nations 
were  united  into  one  people.  At  a  subsequent  day 
the  wampum  in  present  use  was  introduced  among 
them  by  the  Dutch,  who  in  the  manufactured  shell 
bead  offered  an  acceptable  substitute  for  the  less 
convenient  one  of  the  spiral  shell.  These  beads,  as 
shown  in  the  plate,  are  purple  and  white,  about  a 
quarter  of  an  inch  in  length,  an  eighth  in  diameter, 
and  perforated  lengthwise  so  as  to  be  strung  on  sinew 
or  bark  thread.  The  white  bead  was  manufactured 
from  the  great  conch  sea  shell,  and  the  purple  from 
the  muscle  shell.  They  are  woven  into  belts,  or 
used  in  strings  simply,  in  both  of  which  conditions 
they  are  employed  to  record  treaty  stipulations,  to 
convey  messages,  and  to  subserve  many  religious -and 
social  purposes.  The  word  wampum  is  not  of 
Iroquois  origin.  Baylie,  in  his  History  of  New  Ply 
mouth,  informs  us  that  it  was  first  known  in  New: 
England  as  Wampumpeag^  from  which  its  Algonquin 
derivation  is  to  be  inferred  ;  and  Hutchinson  says  that 
the  art  of  making  it  was  obtained  from  the  Dutch 
about  the  year  i627.(80) 

Wampum  beads  are  rarely  worn,  as  they  are  scarce 
and  held  at  high  rates.  These  beads  are  used 
chiefly  for  religious  purposes,  and  to  preserve  laws  and 
treaties.  They  are  made  of  the  conch  shell,  which 
yields  both  a  white  and  a  purple  bead,  the  former  of 
which  is  used  for  religious,  and  the  latter  for  politi- 

52 


I,     GA-SWEH-TA  OTE-KO-A  OR  BELT  OF  WAMPUM, 
2.     OTE-KO-A  OR  STRING  OF  WAMPUM, 


W AMP U  M 

cal  purposes.  A  full  string  of  wampum  is  usually 
three  feet  long,  and  contains  a  dozen  or  more  strands. 
White  wampum  was  the  Iroquois  emblem  of  purity 
and  of  faith.  It  was  hung  around  the  neck  of  the 
White  Dog  before  it  was  burned  ;  it  was  used  before 
the  periodical  religious  festivals  for  the  confession  of 
sins,  no  confession  being  regarded  as  sincere  unless 
recorded  with  white  wampum  ; .  further  than  this,  it 
was  the  customary  offering  in  condonation  of  murder, 
although  the  purple  was  sometimes  employed.  In 
ancient  times,  six  of  these  strands  was  the  value  of  a 
life,  the  amount  paid  in  condonation  for  a  murder. 
Wampum  has  frequently  been  called  the  money  of  the 
Indian  ;  but  there  is  no  sufficient  reason  for  supposing 
that  they  ever  made  it  an  exclusive  currency,  or  a  cur 
rency  in  any  sense,  more  than  silver  or  other  orna 
ments.  All  personal  ornaments,  and  most  other  articles 
of  personal  property  passed  from  hand  to  hand  at  a 
fixed  value  ;  but  they  appear  to  have  had  no  common 
standard  of  value  until  they  found  it  in  our  currency. 
If  wampum  had  been  their  currency  it  would  have  had 
a  settled  value  to  which  all  other  articles  would  have 
been  referred.  There  is  no  doubt  that  it  came  nearei 
to  a  currency  than  any  other  species  of  property  among 
them,  because  its  uses  were  so  general,  and  its  transit 
from  hand  to  hand  so  easy,  that  every  one  could  be 
said  to  need  it.  When  sold,  the  strings  were  counted 
and  reckoned  at  half  a  cent  a  bead.  Wampum 
belts  were  made  by  covering  one  side  of  a  deer-skin 
belt  with  these  beads,  arranged  after  various  devices, 
and  with  most  laborious  skill.  As  a  belt  four  or 
five  feet  long  by  four  inches  wide  would  require 

53 


LEAGUE    OF    THE   IRO^UOIS 

several  thousands  of  these  beads,  they  were  estimated 
at  a  great  price.      In  making  a  belt  no  particular  pattern 
was    followed  :  sometimes    they   are  of   the  width    of 
three  fingers  and  three  feet  long,  in  other  instances  as 
wide   as    the   hand,   and    over    three   feet    in    length  ; 
sometimes  they  are  all  of  one   color,  in  others  varie 
gated,    and    in    still    others    woven    with    the    figures 
of  men   to  symbolize,  by   their  attitudes,  the   objects 
or  events  they  were  designed  to  commemorate.     The 
most  common  width  was   three  fingers,  or  the  width 
of  seven    beads,  the   length   ranging  from  two  to  six 
feet.       In    belt    making,,  which    is   a   simple    process, 
eight  strands  or  cords  of  bark  thread  are  first  twisted, 
from  filaments  of  slippery  elm,  of  the  requisite  length 
and  size ;  after  which  they  are  passed  through  a  strip 
of  deer-skin  to  separate  them  at  equal  distances  from 
each  other  in  parallel  lines.     A  piece  of  splint  is  then 
sprung  in  the  form  of  a  bow,  to  which  each  end  of 
the    several   strings   is   secured,  and  by  which  all    of 
them  are  held  in  tension,  like  warp  threads  in  a  weav 
ing  machine.     Seven  beads,  these  making  the  intended 
width   of  the   belt,  are   then    run   upon  a  thread    by 
means   of  a  needle,  and   are   passed   under  the  cords 
at  right  angles,  so  as  to  bring   one   bead    lengthwise 
between    each    cord,   and    the    one   next    in    position. 
The    thread    is    then    passed    back    again    along    the 
upper  side  of  the  cords  and  again  through  each  of 
the   beads  ;    so   that   each    bead    is    held  firmly   in   its 
place   by    means   of  two   threads,  one   passing  under 
and  one  above  the  cords.      This  process  is  continued 
until   the  belt  reaches  its  intended   length,  when  the 
ends  of  the  cords  are  tied,  the  end  of  the   belt  cov- 

54 


MEDALS 

ered,  and  afterwards  trimmed  with  ribbons.     In  ancient 
times  both  the  cords  and  the  thread  were  of  sinew. 

The  belt  possesses  an  additional  interest   from  the 
fact  that  the  beads  of  which  it  is  composed,  formerly 


Qnt-wisi-da-ga-dust-ba! t  or  Silver  Medal. 

belonged  to  the  celebrated  Mohawk  Chief,  Joseph 
Brant,  Ta-yen-dd-na'-ga.  They  were  purchased,  by  the 
writer,  of  his  youngest  daughter  Catharine  in  October 
last,  at  the  reservation  on  Grand  river  in  Upper 
Canada  before  referred  to  ;  and  were  afterwards  taken 
to  Tonawanda  in  this  State  and  made  into  the  present 
belt.  In  this  form  it  will  be  most  convenient  to  pre 
serve  them  as  a  relic  of  the  distinguished  war  captain 
of  the  Mohawks. 

The  government  has  long  been  in  the  habit  of  pre 
senting  silver  medals  to  the  chiefs  of  the  various 
Indian  tribes  at  the  formation  of  treaties,  and  on  the 

55 


LEA  GUP:  OF  THE  IROQUOIS 

occasion  of  their  visit  to  the  seat  of  government. 
These  medals  are  held  in  the  highest  estimation.  Red 
Jacket,  Corn  Planter,  Farmer's  Brother,  and  several 
other  distinguished  Seneca  chiefs  have  received  medals 
of  this  description.  Washington  presented  a  medal  to 
Red  Jacket  in  1792.  It  is  an  elliptical  plate  of  silver, 
surrounded  by  a  rim,  as  represented  in  the  figure,  and 
is  about  six  inches  in  its  greatest  diameter.  On  each 
side  it  is  engraved  with  various  devices.  The  medal  is 
now  worn  by  Sose-hd-wa  (Johnson),  a  Seneca  chief. 


Ga-nuh9-sa,  or  Sea- she II  Medal. 

Medals  of  sea-shell,  inlaid  with  silver,  as  represented 
in  the  figure,  were  also  worn  suspended  from  the  neck 
as  personal  ornaments.  They  were  made  of  the  conch- 
shell,  and  were  highly  valued. 

A  few  plates  further  to  illustrate  the  handiwork  of 
the  Indian  female  in  bead-work  are  introduced  in 
this  volume.  The  figures  themselves  will  dispense 
with  the  necessity  of  any  description,  although  they 
should  be  colored  to  give  a  full  impression  of  their 
character.  The  patient  industry  of  the  Indian  female 
is  quite  remarkable,  when  seen  in  contrast  with  the 

56 


BABY-FRAME 

impatience  of  labor  in  the  warrior  himself.  In  the 
work  of  their  reclamation  and  gradual  induction  into 
industrial  pursuits,  this  fact  furnishes  no  small  degree 
of  encouragement. 

GA-OSE-HA',    OR    BABY-FRAME 
See  PLATE,  II.  58 

This  is  likewise  an  Indian  invention.  It  appears 
to  have  been  designed  rather  as  a  convenience  to  the 
Indian  mother  for  the  transportation  of  her  infant, 
than,  as  has  generally  been  supposed,  to  secure  an 
erect  figure.  The  frame  is  about  two  feet  in  length, 
by  about  fourteen  inches  in  width,  with  a  carved  foot 
board  at  the  small  end,  and  a  hoop  or  bow  at  the 
head,  arching'  over  at  right  angles.  After  being  en 
closed  in  a  blanket,  the  infant  is  lashed  upon  the 
frame  with  belts  of  bead-work,  which  firmly  secure 
and  cover  its  person,  with  the  exception  of  the  face. 
A  separate  article  for  covering  the  face  is  then  drawn 
over  the  bow,  and  the  child  is  wholly  protected. (118) 
When  carried,  the  burden-strap  attached  to  the  frame 
is  placed  around  the  forehead  of  the  mother,  and  the 
Ga-ose'-lici  upon  her  back.  This  frame  is  often  elab 
orately  carved,  and  its  ornaments  are  of  the  choicest 
description. 

The  figure  is  introduced  to  show  the  frame  divested 
of  the  belts  and  drapery  by  which,  when  in  actual  use, 
it  is  entirely  concealed.  It  consists  of  but  three 
principal  pieces  of  wood,  the  bow,  bottom  board  and 
foot  board,  upon  the  first  and  last  of  which  the  most 
labor  was  bestowed.  They  are  always  carved,  and 
frequently  inlaid  with  silver,  or  with  wood  of  dif- 

57 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I  R  O 


O  I  S 


ferent  colors  and  in  various  figures.  The  bow,  which 
arches  over,  is  held  to  the  bottom  board  by  means  of 
a  cross  piece,  passing  under  it,  into  which  the  ends 
of  the  bow  are  inserted.  It  is  further  secured  in  its 
perpendicular  position  by  means  of  side  pieces  in 
which  the  bow  is  embedded.  The  foot  board  at  the 
small  end  of  the  frame  is  also  carved,  and  often  inlaid, 


Ga-ose-ba,  or  Baby-frame. 

it  being  the  only  part  of  it  which  is  exposed  when  the 
infant  is  lashed  upon  the  frame.  Deer  strings  are  run 
along  the  outer  edges  of  the  bottom  board  under  which 
the  belts  are  passed  from  side  to  side,  passing  over  the 
body  of  the  child.  As  a  whole  the  Ga-ose'-ha,  with  its 
embroidered  belts,  and  other  decorations,  is  one  of  the 
most  conspicuous  articles  pertaining  to  their  social  life. 
When  cultivating  the  maize,  or  engaged  in  any  out 
door  occupation,  the  Ga-ose'-ha  is  hung  upon  a  limb  of 
the  nearest  tree,  and  left  to  swing  in  the  breeze.  The 

5* 


GA-ON-SEH  OR  BABY  FRAME, 


DIFFUSION    OF    INDIAN    ARTS 

patience  and  quiet  of  the  Indian  child  in  this  close 
confinement  are  quite  remarkable.  It  will  hang  thus 
suspended  for  hours,  without  uttering  a  complaint. 

Many  other  articles  might  be  introduced  further. to 
illustrate  the  social  life  of  the  Iroquois,  did  space  per 
mit,  but  sufficient  has  been  given,  to  exhibit  the  general 
character  of  their  fabrics,  implements  and  utensils.  A 
portion  of  them,  which  appeared  particularly  calculated 
to  exhibit  their  artisan  intellect,  have  been  noticed 
minutely,  for  it  is  in  this  view  that  they  are  chiefly 
interesting. 

Such  is  the  diffusion  of  Indian  arts  and  Indian/ 
inventions  among  the  red  races,  that  it  is  impossible 
to  ascertain  with  what  nation  or  tribe  they  in  fact 
originated.  Many  of  them  were  common  to  all,  from 
Maine  to  Oregon,  and  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the 
peninsula  of  Florida.  To  this  day  Indian  life  is  about 
the  same  over  the  whole  republic.  If  we  wished  to 
discover  the  inventions  of  the  Iroquois,  we  might 
expect  to  find  them  as  well  among  the  Sioux  of  the 
upper  Mississippi  as  among  the  descendants  of  the 
Iroquois  themselves.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  in 
describing  the  fabrics  which  illustrate  the  era  of  Indian 
occupation,  we  should  take  in  the  whole  range  of 
Indian  life,  from  the  wild  tribes  dwelling  in  the 
seclusions  of  Oregon,  to  the  present  semi-agricultural 
Iroquois  who  reside  among  ourselves.  They  have 
passed  through  all  the  intermediate  stages,  from  ex 
treme  rudeness  to  comparative  civilization.  If  we 
wish  to  connect  the  fabrics  of  the  former  with  those 
of  our  own  primitive  inhabitants,  we  may  find  that  con 
nection  in  the  fact  that  similar  implements  and  similar 

59 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

fabrics,  at  no  remote  period,  were  in  the  hands,  and 
of  the  manufacture  of  the  Iroquois  themselves.  Many 
of  the  relics  disentombed  from  the  soil  of  New  York 
relate  back  to  the  period  of  the  Mound  Builders  of 
the  west,  and  belong  to  a  race  of  men  and  an  age 
which  have  passed  beyond  the  ken  of  Indian  tradition. 
Our  first  Indian  epoch  is  thus  connected  with  that  of 
the  Mound  Builders.(3G)  In  the  same  manner,  the 
fabrics  of  the  Iroquois  are  intimately  connected  with 
those  of  all  the  tribes  now  resident  within  the  republic. 
One  system  of  trails  belted  the  whole  face  of  the 
territory  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific ;  and  the 
intercourse  between  the  multitude  of  nations  who 
dwelt  within  these  boundless  domains  was  constant, 
and  much  more  extensive  than  has  ever  been  supposed. 
If  any  one,  therefore,  desires  a  picture  of  Iroquois  life 
before  Hendrick  Hudson  sailed  up  the  river  upon 
whose  banks  rested  the  eastern  end  of  their  "  Long 
House,"  he  should  look  for  it  in  Catlin's  Scenes  at  the 
skirts  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  There  are  diversities, 
it  is  true,  but  Indian  life  is  essentially  the  same.(127) 

In  the  fabrics  of  the  modern  Iroquois,  there  is 
much  to  inspire  confidence  in  their  teachableness  in 
the  useful  arts.  When  their  minds  are  unfolded  by 
education,  and  their  attention  is  attracted  by  habit  to 
agricultural  pursuits,  as  has  already  become  the  case, 
to  some  extent,  there  is  great  promise  that  a  portion, 
at  least,  of  this  gifted  race  will  be  reclaimed,  and  raised, 
eventually,  to  a  citizenship  among  ourselves.  It  would 
be  a  grateful  spectacle,  yet  to  behold  the  children  of 
our  primeval  forests  cultivating  the  fields  over  which 
their  fathers  roamed  in  sylvan  independence. (128) 

60 


Chapter  II 

Language  of  the  Iroquois  —  Alphabet  —  The  Noun — Adjective  — 
Comparison  —  Article  — Adverb  —  Preposition  —  Species  of  De-< 
clension  —  The  Verb — Fulness  of  Conjugation — Formation  of 
Sentences—  The  Lord's  Prayer 

THE  language  of  the  Iroquois,  like  all  un 
written  languages,  is  imperfect  in  its  construc 
tion,  and  scarcely  admits  of  comparison, 
except  on  general  principles,  with  those  which  have 
been  systematized  and  perfected.  It  would  doubtless 
be  characterized  by  the  schoolman  as  a  barbarous  jar 
gon,  although  entitled  to  some  portion  of  the  indul 
gence  which  is  due  to  all  primitive  or  uncompounded 
languages,  in  the  early  stages  of  their  formation/79^ 
To  us,  however,  there  is  an  interest  incident  to  these 
dialects,  which  rises  above  mere  literary  curiosity. 
Through  all  generations,  their  language  will  continue 
to  be  spoken  in  our  geographical  terms  :  "  their  names 
are  on  our  waters,  we  may  not  wash  them  out."  (73) 
The  face  of  nature,  indeed,  changes  its  appearance, 
mutat  terra  vices,  but  its  landmarks  remain  essentially 
the  same.  Within  our  borders,  the  Iroquois  have 
written  them  over  with  such  a  permanent  imprint,  that 
to  the  most  distant  ages  will  our  hills  and  vales  and 
ever-flowing  rivers  speak 

"Their  dialect  of  yore." 

The  Ho-de'-no-sau-nee  were  eminently  fortunate   in 
engrafting  their  names  upon  the  features  of  nature,  if 

61 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

they  were  desirous  of  a  living  remembrance.  No  one 
can  turn  to  the  lake,  or  river,  or  streamlet,  to  which 
they  have  bequeathed  an  appellation,  without  con 
fessing  that  the  Indian  has  perpetuated  himself  by  a 
monument  more  eloquent  and  imperishable  than  could 
be  fabricated  by  human  hands. 

From  considerations  of  this  description,  there  arises 
a  sufficient  interest  in  the  language  of  our  predeces 
sors,  to  invite  an  inquiry  into  its  principal  fea 
tures/7^ 

Of  the  six  dialects  in  which  it  is  now  spoken,  the 
Mohawk  and  Oneida  have  a  close  resemblance  to 
each  other;  the  Cayuga  and  Seneca  the  same;  while 
the  Onondaga  and  Tuscarora  are  not  only  unlike  each 
other,  but  are  also  distinguished  from  the  other  four 
by  strong  dialectical  differences.  In  the  estimation  of 
the  Iroquois,  the  Onondaga  dialect  is  the  most  fin 
ished  and  majestic,  and  the  Oneida  the  least  vigorous 
in  its  expressions  ;  but  to  the  American  ear,  the  former 
is  harsh  and  pointed,  and  the  latter  is  liquid,  harmoni 
ous,  and  musical.  The  Tuscarora  is  admitted  to  be  a 
dialect  of  the  Iroquois  language,  but  it  has  not  such  a 
close  affinity  to  either  of  the  remaining  five,  as  the 
latter  have  to  each  other.  In  conversation  they  are 
all  able  to  understand  each  other  with  readiness,  unless 
words  intervene  which  have  been  naturalized  into  one 
of  their  dialects  from  foreign  languages.  A  compar 
ison  of  these  dialects  will  be  found  in  the  table. 

The  alphabet  common  to  the  six  dialects  consists 
of  nineteen  letters  :  A,  C,  D,  E,  G,  H,  I,  J,  K,  N, 
O,  Q,  R,  S,  T,  U,  W,  X,  and  Y.(75)  In  addition  to 
several  elementary  sounds  which  require  a  combina- 

62 


LANGUAGE    OF    THE    IROQUQIS 

tion  of  letters,  the  Senecas  occasionally  employ  the 
sound  of  Z;  but  it  is  so  closely  allied  with  the  sound 
of  S,  as  not  to  be  distinguishable,  except  by  careful 
observation.  The  Mohawks  and  Oneidas  use  the 
liquid  L,  and  the  Tuscaroras  occasionally  employ  the 
sound  of  F ; (75)  but  these  letters  are  not  common  to 
all  the  dialects.  It  has  been  customary  to  exclude  the 
liquid  R  from  the  Iroquois  alphabet,  as  not  common 
to  the  several  dialects,  but  this  is  clearly  erroneous. 
Although  it  is  principally  found  in  the  Mohawk,  Sen 
eca,  and  Cayuga,  it  is  yet  occasionally  discovered  in 
each  of  the  others.  Some  of  the  ancient  writers 
affirmed  that  this  letter  was  not  to  be  found  in  the 
Oneida  tongue,  and  that  the  word  Rebecca,  for  ex 
ample,  would  be  pronounced,  by  an  Oneida,  Lequecca. 
It  is  possible  that  the  presence  of  the  consonant  by 
which  is  unknown  in  their  language,  may  have  ren 
dered  the  substitution  of  L  necessary  to  effect  the 
whole  pronunciation  ;  but  it  is  certain  that  in  some  of 
their  words  the  R  is  found,  as,  for  example,  in  the 
name  of  Schoharie  creek,  O-sko'-harl.  This  letter  is 
found  in  the  Onondaga  dialect,  in  the  same  geograph 
ical  name,  which,  in  the  latter,  is  Sko-har.  In  the 
Tuscarora,  this  letter  is  frequently  found,  as,  for  in 
stance,  in  the  name  of  Buffalo,  Ne-o-thro'-ra,  and  of 
Niagara,  O-ne-a-cars. 

The  number  of  their  elementary  sounds,  as  at 
present  ascertained,  is  below  that  of  the  English 
language,  but  twenty-three  having  been  determined 
in  the  Seneca  tongue,  while  in  the  former  it  is  well 
known  that  there  are  thirty-eight.  A  more  critical 
analysis  would  doubtless  discover  additional  sounds, 

63 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

as  in  the  guttural  and  nasal  tones  they  take  a  wider 
range  than  the  English  voice. 

In  illustrating  the  parts  of  speech  by  a  cursory 
examination,  and  in  elucidating  the  declensions  and 
conjugations,  the  words  introduced  as  specimens 
will  be  taken  from  the  Seneca  language. 

It  is  supposed  by  those  who  have  inquired  philo 
sophically  into  the  formation  of  language,  that  the 
noun  substantive  would  be  the  first  part  of  speech 
in  the  order  of  origination,  inasmuch  as  the  objects 
in  nature  must  be  named,  and  perhaps  classed,  before 
relations  between  them  are  suggested,  or  actions  con 
cerning  them  are  expressed.  Much  of  the  beauty 
of  a  language  depends  upon  this  part  of  speech. 
Nouns  of  one  syllable  are  rarely,  if  ever,  found  in 
either  of  the  dialects ;  those  of  two  syllables  are  not 
very  numerous ;  those  of  three  and  four  syllables 
embrace  the  great  mass  of  words  which  belong  to  this 
part  of  speech.  As  specimens  of  the  language,  the 
following  examples  are  given  :  — 

NOUNS    OF    TWO    SYLLABLES. 

An-da',  Day.  Ga-ee',  Tree. 

So-a',  Night.  Ha-ace',  Panther. 

Ga-o',  Wind.  Je-yeh',  Dog. 

Gus-no',  Bark.  Gen-joh',  Fish. 

NOUNS    OF    THREE    SYLLABLES. 

Ah-wa'-o,  Rose.  O-o'-za,  Bass-wood. 

O-gis'-ta,  Fire.  O-ane'-da,  Shrub. 

O-we'-za,  Ice.  O-na'-ta,  Leaf. 

O-dus'-hote,  A  spring.  Ga-ha'-neh,  Summer. 

Ga-ha-'da,  Forest.  O-gaY-ah,  Evening. 

O-eke'-ta,  Thistle.  Ga-o'-wo,  Canoe. 

64 


THE    NO  UN 

NOUNS    OF    FOUR    SYLLABLES. 

O-na-ga'-nose,         Water.  Ong-wa-o'-weh,  Indian. 

Ga-a-nun'-da,          Mountain.  Ga-ga-neas'-heh,  Knife. 

Ga-gwe-dake'-neh,  Spring.  O-gwen-nis'-ha,  Copper. 

Sa-da'-che'-ah,         Morning.  Ah-ta-gwen'-da,  Flint. 

Ga-a-o'-da,  Gun. 

NOUNS    OF  FIVE    SYLLABLES. 

Sa-da'-wa-sun-teh,  Midnight.  So-a'-ka-ga-gwa,  Moon. 

O-wis'-ta-no-o,        Silver.  Ga-ne-o'-us-heh,  Iron. 

An-da'-ka-ga-gwa,  Sun.  O-da'-wa-an-do,  Otter. 

In  most,  if  not  all  languages,  the  idea  of  singular 
and  plural  is  conveyed  by  an  inflection  of  the  word 
itself,  or  by  some  addition.  To  illustrate  from  the 
language  under  consideration,  which  forms  the  plural 
in  several  ways  by  inflection,  the  subjoined  examples 
are  introduced. 

Singular.  Plural. 

O-on'-dote,  A  tree.  O-on-do'-do,  Trees. 

Ga-no'-sote,  A  house.  Ga-no-so'-do,  Houses. 

Ga-ne-o'-wa-o,  A  brook.  Ga-ne-o-wa-o'-neo,  Brooks. 

Je-da'-o,  A  bird.  Je-da-o'-suh-uh,  Birds. 

O-an'-nuh,  A  pole.  O-an'-nuh-suh,  Poles. 

Ga-hun'-da,  A  creek.  Ga-hun-da'-neo,  Creeks. 

There  are  several  other  terminations  by  which  the 
plural  is  indicated. 

It  is  said  that  the  dual  number  originated  in  the 
difficulty  of  inventing  the  numerals,  one,  two,  three, 
&c.,  which  are  in  themselves  extremely  abstract  con 
ceptions.  The  ideas  of  one,  two  and  more,  which 
correspond  with  singular,  dual  and  plural,  would  be 
far  more  easily  formed  in  the  mind,  than  the  idea  of 
number  in  general ;  and  the  most  simple  mode  of 
expressing  them  would  be  by  a  variation  of  the  word 
VOL.  it.  —  5  65 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

itself.  Hence  in  the  Hebrew  and  Greek,  which  are 
original  or  un  com  pounded  languages,  in  the  general 
sense,  the  dual  is  found  to  exist,  while  in  the  Latin, 
and  in  modern  languages,  which  are  compounds,  and 
were  formed  subsequent  to  the  invention  of  numerals, 
the  dual  number  is  discarded.  The  Iroquois,  so  far 
as  we  know,  is  an  original  and  uncompounded  lan 
guage,  and  it  has  the  dual  number,  both  in  its  verbs 
and  nouns. (79) 

Gender  was  very  happily  indicated  in  the  Latin 
and  Greek  by  final  letters  or  terminations.  In  the 
English,  by  giving  up  the  ancient  declensions,  this 
mode  of  designating  gender  was  also  laid  aside,  and 
two  or  three  modes  substituted  ;  thus,  that  of  vary 
ing  the  word  itself,  as  tiger,  tigress,  of  giving  the 
same  animal  names  entirely  different,  as  buck  and 
doe,  and  more  frequently  still  that  of  prefixing  words 
which  signify  male  and  female.  The  Iroquois  nouns 
have  three  genders,  which  are  indicated  in  the  manner 
last  mentioned.  Unlike  the  provisions  of  other  lan 
guages,  all  inanimate  objects,  without  distinction,  were 
placed  in  the  neuter  gender. 

In  some  respects  the  adjective  would  be  a  simple 
part  of  speech  to  invent,  as  quality  is  an  object  of 
external  sense,  and  is  always  in  concrete  with  the 
subject.  But  to  discover  and  adopt  a  classification, 
founded  upon  the  similitudes  of  objects,  would  be 
more  difficult,  since  both  generalisation  and  abstrac 
tion  would  be  required.  The  dialects  of  the  Ho-de- 
no-sau-nee  appear  to  be  amply  furnished  with  this  part 
of  speech,  on  which  so  much  of  the  beauty  of  a  lan 
guage  is  known  to  depend,  to  express  nearly  every 

66 


ADJECTIVE 

shade  of  quality  in  objects.  Comparison,  of  which 
they  have  the  three  degrees,  is  effected  by  adding 
another  word,  and  not  by  an  inflection  of  the  word 
itself,  in  the  following  manner: 

Positive.  Comparative.  Superlative. 

Great,       Go-wii-na',  Ah-gwus'-go-wa-na,  Ha-yo-go-sote'-go-wa-na. 

Good,       We-yo',  Ah-gwus'-we-yo,  Ha-yo-go-sote'-we-yo. 

Sweet,      O-ga-uh',  Ah-gwus'-o-ga-uh,  Ha-yo-go-sote'-o-ga-uh. 

Small,       Ne-wa-ah',  Ah-gwus'-ne-wa-ah,  Ha-yo-go-sote'-ne-wa-ah. 

But  in  connecting  the  adjective  with  the  noun,  the 
two  words  usually  enter  into  combination,   and    lose 
one  or  more  syllables.     This  principle,  or  species  of 
contraction,  is  carried   throughout  the   language,  and 
to  some  extent  prevents  prolixity.     The  language  has 
but  few  primitive  words,  or  ultimate  roots ;  and  when 
these  are  mastered,  their  presence  is  readily  detected 
and  understood,  through  all  the  elaborate  and  intricate 
combinations  in  which  they   are  used.      To  illustrate 
the   manner  of  compounding   the   adjective  with   the 
substantive,  the   following    examples   may   be    taken : 
O-ya,  fruit ;   O-ga-uh',  sweet ;  O-ya-ga-uh,  sweet  fruit ; 
O,  the  first  syllable  of  sweet,  being  dropped.     Again, 
E'-yose,  a  blanket ;   Ga-geh-ant,  white  ;  Tose-a-geh'-ant, 
white   blanket ;    Ga-no'-sote,  a  house  ;    We-yo ,   good  ; 
Ga-no'-se-yo,  a  good  house ;  literally  fruit  sweet,  blan 
ket  white,  and  house  good,  illustrative  of  that  natural 
impulse  in  man  which  leads  him  to  place  the  object 
before  the  quality.      In  other  instances  the  adjective 
is  divided,  and  one  part  prefixed  and  the  other  suf 
fixed    to    the    noun   thus  :    Ga-nun-da-yeh,  a   village  ; 
Ne-wa-ah,  small ;   Ne-g'd-nun-da'-ah,  a   small  village ; 
Ah-ta'-qu'd-o-weh,  a  moccason  ;  Ne-wa'-ta-qua-ah,  a  small 

67 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

moccason.  The  adjective  is  also  frequently  used  un- 
compounded  with  the  noun,  as  Ga-na'-dike-ho  E'-yose,  a 
green  blanket. 

The  indefinite  article,  a  or  an,  is  entirely  unknown 
in  the  language  of  the  Iroquois.  There  are  numerous 
particles,  as  in  the  Greek,  which,  without  significance 
in  themselves  separately,  are  employed  for  euphony, 
and  to  connect  other  words.  These  particles  qualify 
and  sometimes  limit  the  signification  of  words ;  but 
yet  if  they  should  be  submitted  to  a  critical  examina 
tion,  none  of  them  would  answer  the  idea  of  the  article 
a,  or  an.  The  existence  in  completeness  of  this  refined 
part  of  speech  would  indicate  a  greater  maturity  and 
finish  than  the  dialects  of  the  Iroquois  possessed. 
But  the  definite  article  na,  the,  is  found  in  the  lan 
guage.  It  is  not  as  distinctly  defined,  and  perfectly 
used,  as  in  more  polished  languages,  but  it  is  usually 
prefixed  to  substantives,  as  with  us,  to  indicate  the 
thing  intended. 

Of  the  adverb  nothing  need  be  introduced,  except 
to  remark  that  the  language  is  furnished  with  the 
usual  variety.  A  few  specimens  may  be  added, 
Nake-ho,  here  ;  O-na\  now ;  Fa-da,  yesterday  ;  Ska- 
no',  well. 

The  preposition  is  allowed  to  be  so  abstract  and 
metaphysical  in  its  nature,  that  it  would  be  one  of 
the  last  and  most  difficult  parts  of  speech  to  invent. 
It  expresses  relation  "  considered  in  concrete  with 
the  correlative  object ;  "  and  is  of  necessity  very  ab 
struse.  The  prepositions,  of,  to,  and  for,  are  regarded 
as  the  most  abstract,  from  the  character  .of  the  relations 
which  they  indicate.  Declension,  it  is  supposed,  was 

68 


PREPOSITIONS 

resorted  to  by  the  Greeks,  and  adopted  by  the 
Latins,  to  evade  the  necessity  of  inventing  these 
prepositions  ;  as  it  would  be  much  easier  to  express 
the  idea  by  the  variation  of  the  noun,  than  to  ascer 
tain  some  word  which  would  convey  such  an  abstract 
relation  as  that  indicated  by  of  or  to.  By  the  ancient 
cases,  this  difficulty  was  surmounted,  and  the  preposi 
tion  was  blended  with  the  correlative  object,  as  in 
Sermonis,  of  a  speech  ;  Sermoni,  to  a  speech.  Modern 
languages  have  laid  aside  the  ancient  cases,  for  the 
reason,  it  is  said,  that  the  invention  of  prepositions 
rendered  them  unnecessary.  In  the  Iroquois  lan 
guage,  the  prepositions  above  mentioned  are  not  to 
be  found  ;  neither  have  its  nouns  a  declension,  like 
the  Greek  and  Latin.  Some  traces  of  a  declension 
are  discoverable ;  but  the  cases  are  too  imperfect  to 
be  compared  with  those  of  the  ancient  languages,  or 
to  answer  fully  the  ends  of  the  prepositions.  This 
part  of  speech  is  the  most  imperfectly  developed  of 
any  in  the  language ;  and  the  contrivances  resorted  to, 
to  express  such  of  these  relations  as  were  of  absolute 
necessity,  are  too  complex  to  be  easily  understood. 

The  language,  however,  contains  the  simple  prep 
ositions,  as  Da-ga'-o,  across  ;  No'-ga,  after  ;  Na'-ho,  at ; 
O'-an-dd)  before  ;  Dose-gd'-o,  near,  &c.  It  must  be 
inferred  that  the  framers  of  the  language  had  no 
distinct  idea  of  the  relations  conveyed  by  the  defi 
cient  prepositions,  otherwise  they  would  be  found 
in  the  language.  From  the  number  of  particles 
employed  in  the  language,  and  the  complexity  of 
their  combinations,  it  would  be  impossible  to  analyze 
the  word,  or  phrase,  for  example,  in  which  on  oc- 

69 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

curs,  and   take  out   the  specific    fragment    which  has 
the  force  of  the  preposition. 

In  the  imperfect  declensions  through  which  the 
Iroquois  substantives  are  passed,  pronouns,  as  well  as 
prepositions,  are  interwoven  by  inflection.  These 
declensions  are  not  reduceable  to  regular  forms,  but 
admit  of  great  diversities,  thus  rendering  the  language 
itself,  like  all  simple  and  original  languages,  exceed 
ingly  intricate  in  its  inflections.  The  following 
examples  will  exhibit  the  ordinary  variations  of  the 
noun. 


Ga-no'-sote, 
Ho-no'-sote, 
Ha-to-no'-sote, 
Ho-no'-sa-go,' 

A-so'-gwa-ta, 
Ho-so'-gwa-ta, 
Na-no-so'-gwa-ta, 
Ho-so'-gwa-ta-go, 

O-on-dote', 
Ho-on-da', 
Ha'-to-de-on-dote, 

0-ya', 

Ho-ya', 

Ho-da-ya', 

Wa-nis'-hehnda, 
Dwen-nis'-heh-dake, 
Dwen-nis'-heh-deh, 
Sa-wen-nis'-hat, 

Wa-sun'-da-da, 
Dwa-sun'-da-dake, 
Dwa-sun'-da-da, 
Sa-wa-sun'-dart, 


A  house. 

His  house. 

Of,  to,  from,  or  at  his  house. 

In  his  house. 

A  pipe. 
His  pipe. 
Of  his  pipe. 
In  his  pipe. 

A  tree. 

His  tree. 

Of,  to,  from,  or  at  his  tree. 

Fruit. 

His  fruit. 

Of,  to,  from,  or  at  his  fruit. 

Day. 

At  a  day  past. 
At  a  day  future. 
With  the  day. 

Night. 

At  a  night  past. 
At  a  night  future. 
With  the  night. 
70 


PRONOUNS 

Of  the  pronouns  but  little  need  be  added,  except 
that  they  are  very  defective  :  thus  E  signifies  I,  we, 
me,  and  us ;  Ese,  thou,  ye  or  you,  and  thee.  He 
and  they  are  wanting,  except  as  expressed  in  the 
verb  by  its  inflection.  The  personal  pronouns  make 
the  possessive  case  very  regularly,  thus  :  Ah-ga-weh'y 
mine  ;  Sa-weti,  thine  ;  Ho-weH ',  his  ;  Go-weh\  hers  ; 
Ung-gwa-weH ',  ours  ;  Swa-weh ',  yours  ;  Ho-nau-weh', 
theirs.  Similar  variations  can  be  made  on  some  of 
the  relative  pronouns. 

Interjections  are  extremely  numerous  in  this  lan 
guage,  and  appear  to  be  adapted  to  all  the  passions. 
It  has  also  the  ordinary  conjunctions. 

Next  and  last  the  verb  presents  itself.  This  part 
of  speech,  in  the  nature  of  things,  must  have  been 
one  of  the  first  invented,  as  without  its  aid,  there 
could  be  no  affirmation,  no  expression  of  action  or 
passion.  Among  primitive  languages,  the  conjuga 
tion  of  the  verb  is  extremely  complex.  Grammarians 
assign  as  a  reason,  that  the  tenses  and  moods  of  the 
verb  would  be  more  easily  indicated  by  its  inflection, 
than  by  contriving  or  inventing  the  substantive  verb, 
I  am;  the  possessive  verb,  I  have;  and  the  auxilia 
ries,  do,  will,  would,  shall,  can,  and  may  ;  all  of  which 
are  necessary  in  the  conjugation  of  an  English  verb. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  the  English  verb  admits 
of  but  three  variations  in  itself,  as  press,  pressed^ 
pressing;  and  its  conjugation  is  completed  by  the 
auxiliary  verbs  above-mentioned  ;  while  the  Greek, 
Latin,  and  Iroquois  verbs  are  conjugated,  except  some 
part  of  the  passive  voice  in  Latin,  by  the  variations 
throughout  of  the  verb  itself;  thus,  Legeram,  I  had 


LEAGUE   OF   THE   IROQUOIS 

read;  Che-w'a-ge-ya-go,  I  had  shot;  Legero,  I  shall 
have  read;  A-wa-ge'-yd-go,  I  shall  have  shot.  In  this 
manner,  the  conjugation  not  only  dispensed  with  the 
pronouns  I,  thou,  and  he,  with  their  plurals,  but  also 
with  the  auxiliary  verbs,  which  have  introduced  such 
prolixity  into  modern  languages.  The  Iroquois  verbs 
are  conjugated  with  great  regularity  and  precision, 
making  the  active  and  passive  voices,  all  the  moods, 
except  the  infinitive,  and  all  the  tenses,  numbers,  and 
persons,  common  to  the  English  verb.  Some  part 
of  the  optative  mood  can  also  be  made. 

But  the  participles  are  wanting.  It  is  difficult  to 
determine  upon  what  principle  the  absence  of  this 
part  of  speech,  which  in  a  written  language  would 
be  a  serious  blemish,  shall  be  accounted  for ;  and 
much  more  difficult  to  ascertain  the  nature  of  the 
substitute  in  a  verbal  language.  A  substitute  for  the 
infinitive  mood  is  found  in  the  present  tense  of 
the  subjunctive  mood,  together  with  a  pronoun,  as  in 
the  following  passage  :  "  Direct  that  He-no  may  come 
and  give  us  rain  "  (see  the  invocation  entire,  Vol.  I. 
p.  1 89)  ;  instead  of  saying,  "  Direct  He-no  to  come, 
and  give  us  rain."  In  correctly  translated  Indian 
speeches  this  form  of  expression  will  frequently  appear, 
from  the  influence  which  this  idiomatic  peculiarity  of 
all  Indian  languages  will  exercise  upon  the  translator. 

The  origin  of  the  dual  number  has  been  adverted 
to.  In  the  active  voice  of  Iroquois  verbs,  the  dual 
number  is  well  distinguished  ;  but  in  the  passive 
voice,  the  dual  and  the  plural  are  the  same.  The 
presence  of  this  number  is  indicative  of  the  intricate 

nature  of  their  conjugations. 

72 


THE    VERB 

To  convey  a  distinct  notion  of  the  mutations 
through  which  an  Iroquois  verb  passes  in  its  con 
jugation,  and  to  furnish  those  who  are  curious,  as 
linguists,  with  a  specimen  for  comparison  with  the 
conjugations  of  other  languages,  one  of  their  verbs, 
with  its  inflections,  is  subjoined  in  Appendix  A,  No.  2. 
Its  great  regularity,  even  harmony  of  inflection,  con 
veys  a  favorable  impression  of  the  structure  of  the 
language  ;  but  it  does  not,  nor  would  it  be  expected 
to  possess  the  elegance  and  beautv  of  the  Greek, 
or  the  brevity  and  solidity  of  the  Latin  conjuga 
tions.  The  principal  parts  of  a  few  verbs  are  given 
as  specimens. 

ACTIVE  VOICE. 

Pres.  Indie.  Future  Indie.  Perfect  Indie. 


Ge'-yase, 
O-gee'-a, 

Ga-geh', 
Ga-go'-ace, 

Eh-ge'-yake, 
Eh-ge'-a, 
Eh-gii-geh', 
Eh-ga-go'-ake, 

Ah-ge'-ya-go,   • 
Ah-ge'-a-go, 
Ah'-ga-geh, 
Ah-ga'-go-a-go, 

To  shoot. 
To  die. 
To  see. 
To  strike, 

Ah-got'-hun-da,      Eh-ga'-ouk,  Ah-ga'-o-geh,          To  hear. 

Kna-ga-ha',  Enk-na'-ga-a,  Kna-ga'-huk,  To  drink. 

It  has  been  laid  down  as  a  maxim,  that  "  the 
more  simple  any  language  is  in  its  composition,  the 
more  complex  it  must  be  in  its  declensions  and  con 
jugations,  and  on  the  contrary,  the  more  simple  it 
is  in  its  declensions  and  conjugations,  the  more  com 
plex  it  must  be  in  its  composition."  The  position 
is  thus  illustrated :  when  two  people,  by  uniting  or 
otherwise,  blend  their  languages,  the  union  always 
simplifies  the  structure  of  the  resulting  language, 
while  it  introduces  a  greater  complexity  into  its  ma 
terials.  The  Greek,  which  is  uncompounded,  and 

73 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I  R  O      U  O  I  S 


is  said  to  have  but  three  hundred  primitives,  is  ex 
tremely  intricate  in.  its  conjugations.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  Latin,  which  is  a  compound  language,(79) 
laid  aside  the  middle  voice  and  the  optative  mood, 
which  are  peculiar  to  the  Greek,  and  also  the  dual 
number.  This  simplified  its  conjugations.  In  its 
declensions,  the  Latin,  although  it  has  an  additional 
case  in  the  ablative,  is  yet  much  more  simple  than 
the  Greek,  as  it  has  no  contract  nouns.  The  Eng 
lish,  which  is  a  mixture  of  several  languages,  is  more 
simple  than  either  in  its  declensions,  which  are  made 
by  the  aid  of  prepositions  alone  ;  and  in  its  conjuga 
tions,  which  are  made  by  other  verbs.  With  this 
principle  in  mind,  the  regularity,  fulness,  and  intricacy 
of  the  Iroquois  conjugations  are  not  particularly  re 
markable.  Its  primitive  words,  as  before  remarked, 
are  few,  and  the  language  has  been  formed  out  of  them 
by  a  complex  and  elaborate  system  of  combinations. 

The  language  of  the  Ho-de-no-sau-nee  has  the  sub 
stantive  or  neuter  verb,  E-neti-gay  I  am,  although  im 
perfect  in  some  of  its  tenses.  This  verb  is  regarded 
by  philologists  as  extremely  difficult  of  invention,  as 
it  simply  expresses  being.  Impersonal  verbs  are  also 
very  numerous  in  the  language,  as  O-geori-de-o,  it 
snows  ;  O-rid'-yose'-don-de-o,  it  hails  ;  Gd-wa'-no-das,  it 
thunders.  It  is  supposed  by  those  who  have  in 
quired  into  the  formation  of  language,  that  most  of 
the  verbs  in  primitive  tongues  originally  took  the 
impersonal  form,  for  the  reason  that  such  a  verb 
expresses  in  itself  an  entire  event,  while  the  division 
of  the  event  into  subject  and  attribute,  involves  some 
nice  metaphysical  distinctions. 

74 


ARTICULATION 

Before  closing  upon  this  subject  it  will  be  proper 
to  notice  a  few  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  language. 
In  the  first  place  it  has  no  labials,  consequently  the 
Iroquois,  in  speaking,  never  touch  their  lips  together. 
This  fact  may  be  employed  as  a  test  in  the  pronuncia 
tion  of  their  words  and  names. (75)  Their  language 
possesses  the  numerals  firstly,  secondly,  thirdly,  &c., 
also  the  numbers  one,  two,  three,  ascending,  by  vari 
ous  contrivances,  to  about  one  hundred.  For  sums 
above  this,  their  mode  of  enumeration  was  defective, 
as  mathematical  computation  ceased,  and  some  de 
scriptive  term  was  substituted  in  its  place. 

The  voices  of  the  Ho-de'-no-sau-nee  are  powerful, 
and  capable  of  reaching  a  high  shrill  key.  In  con 
versation  its  natural  pitch  is  above  the  English  voice, 
especially  with  the  female,  whose  voice,  by  a  natural 
transition,  frequently  rises  in  conversation  an  octave 
above  its  ordinary  pitch,  and  sounds  upon  a  tone 
to  which  the  English  voice  could  not  be  elevated 
and  retain  a  distinct  articulation.  It  also  passes  up 
and  down,  at  intervals,  from  octave  to  octave,  the 
voice  retaining  upon  the  elevated  key  a  clear  and 
musical  intonation. 

In  verbal  languages  the  words  appear  to  be  literally 
strung  together  in  a  chain,  if  the  one  under  inspection 
may  be  taken  as  a  specimen.  Substantives  are  mingled 
by  declension  with  pronouns,  and  sometimes  with  the 
substantive  verb,  or  compounded  with  the  adjective, 
thus  forming  a  new  word.  Particles .  are  then  con 
joined,  varying  or  adding  to  the  signification  of  the 
compound,  until  the  word,  by  the  addition  of  the  verb, 
becomes  so  far  extended  as  to  embrace  a  perfect  sen- 

75 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

tence.  The  principles  upon  which  these  combinations 
are  effected  are  too  much  involved  to  be  systematized 
or  generalized.  The  most  which  can  be  said  is,  that 
the  general  result  is  accomplished  by  conjugations  and 
declensions,  which,  although  regular  in  general,  are 
diversified  and  intricate.  To  illustrate  the  manner 
in  which  words  are  made  up,  the  following  example 
may  be  given.  Nun-da-wa-oy  the  radix  of  the  name 
of  the  Senecas,  signifies  "  a  great  hill ; "  by  suffix 
ing  o-no,  which  conveys  the  idea  of  "  people  at," 
Nun-da-wa-o-m,  results  literally,  "  the  people  at 
the  great  hill."  Next,  by  adding  the  particle  ga, 
itself  without  significance,  but  when  conjoined,  con 
veying  the  idea  of  "  place  "  or  "  territory,"  it  gives 
the  compound  A Tun-da-wa '-o-no-ga ',  "the  territory  of 
the  people  at  the  great  hill."  A  more  perfect  speci 
men  of  the  language,  as  a  whole,  may  be  found  in 
the  following  version  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  the 
Seneca  dialect. 

Gwa-nee'  ga-o-ya'-geh  che-de-oh' ;  sa-sa-no-do'--geh- 
teek  ;  ga-o'  ne-dwa  na'  sa-nunk-ta  ;  na-huk'  ne-ya-weh' 
na  yo-an'-ja-geh  ha'ne-sa-ne-go'-da  ha  ne-de-o'-da  na' 
ga-o-ya'-geh.  Dun-da-gwa-e'-wa-sa-gwus  na'  ong-wi- 
wa-na-ark-seh'  na'  da-ya'-ke-wa-sa-gwa'-seh  na'  onk- 
ke-wa-na'-a-ge.  Da-ge-o'-na-geh'-wen-nis'-heh-da  na' 
ong-wa-qua'.  Sa-nuk'  na-huh'  heh'-squa-a  ha'  ga-yeh 
na'  wa-ate-keh'  na-gwa'  na'  da-gwa-ya-duh'-nuh-onk 
ha'  ga-yeh  na'  wa-ate-keh';  na'  seh-eh'  na  ese'  sa-wa 
na'  o-nuk-ta'  kuh'  na'  ga-hus-ta-seh'  kuk'  na'  da-ga-a- 
sa-uh'.  Na-huh'-ne-ya-weh.1 

1  If  an  attempt  should  be  made  to  give  a  literal  translation  of 
each  word,  or  phrase,  it  would  render  transposition  necessary,  and 


NAMES    OF    PLACES    AND    PERSONS 

Names  of  places  as  well  as  of  persons,  form  an  in 
tegral  part  of  their  language,  and  hence  are  all  signifi 
cant.  It  furnishes  a  singular  test  of  their  migrations, 
for  accurate  descriptions  of  localities  become  in  this 
manner  incorporated  into  their  dialects.  The  Tus- 
caroras  still  adduce  proof  from  this  source  to  establish 
a  common  origin  with  the  Iroquois,  and  pretend  to 
trace  their  route  from  Montreal,  Do-te-a-co,  to  the 
Mississippi,  O-nau-we-yo'-kdy  and  from  thence  to  North 
Carolina,  out  of  which  they  were  driven  in  1712. 
The  era  of  their  separation  from  the  parent  stock,  and 
of  this  migration,  they  have  entirely  lost ;  but  they 
consider  the  names  of  places  on  this  extended  route, 
now  incorporated  in  their  language,  a  not  less  certain 
indication  of  a  common  origin  than  the  similarity  of 
their  languages.  Indian  languages  are  exceedingly 
tenacious  of  traditionary  facts  intrusted  to  their  pres 
ervation. 

change  the  formation  of  the  words  in  some  respects,  as  the  following  will 
exhibit. 

Gwa-nee',  che-de-oh'  ga-o'-ya-geh,    ga-sa-nuh',        ese'  sa-nuk-ta'  ga-oh' 

Our  Father,  which  art  in       heaven,  hallowed  be  thy  name,  thy     kingdom      come, 

ese'  sne'-go-eh   ne-ya-weh'  yo  an-ja'-geh  ha'  ne-de-o'-deh         ga-o'-ya-geh. 

thy  will      be       done          on        earth          as  it  is  in  heaven. 

Dun-da-gwa-e'-wa-sa-gwus  ong-wa-yeh'-his-heh'  da-ya-ke'-a  wa- 

Forgive  us  our  debts  as  we  forgive 

sa-gwus-seh'  ho-yeh'-his.      Da-ge-oh'  ne'  na-geh'  wen-nis'-heh-deh  e'  na-ha- 

our  debtors.  Give        us       this  day  our 

da-wen-nis'-heh-geh  o-a'-qwa.       Ha-squa'-ah    e'    sa-no'    ha'    wa-ate-keh', 

daily  bread.  Lead  us       not        into       temptation, 

na-gwa'  da-gwa-ya-dan'-nake  ne'  wa-ate-keh',  na-seh'-eh  nees'        o-nuk'-ta 
but  deliver  from  us  evil,  for         thine  is  the  kingdom, 

na-kuh'  na  ga-hus'-tes-heh,  na-kuh'  da-ga-a-sa-oh'. 
and       the  power,  and  the  glory. 

Na-huh'-se-ya-weh. 


77 


Chapter   III 

Indian  Geography  —  Method  of  Bestowing  Names  —  Central  Trail  — 
Its  Course  —  Ko-la-ne'-ka —  Highway  of  the  Continent — Deriva 
tion  of  Niagara  —  Ontario  Trail  —  Genesee  Trail  —  Conhocton 
Trail — Susquehanna  Trail  —  Indian  Runners —  Iroquois  Map 

OUR  Indian  geography  is  a  subject  of  inquiry 
peculiar  in  its  interest  and  in  its  character. 
Many  of  the  names  bestowed  by  our  pre 
decessors  having  become  incorporated  into  our  lan 
guage,  will  be  transmitted  to  distant  generations,  and 
be  familiar  after  their  race,  and  perhaps  ours,  have 
passed  away.  There  is  still  attainable  a  large  amount 
of  geographical  information  pertaining  to  the  period 
of  Indian  occupation,  which,  estimated  at  its  true 
value,  would  amply  remunerate  for  its  collection  ;  and 
which,  if  neglected,  must  fade,  ere  many  years,  from 
remembrance.  The  features  of  nature  were  first 
christened  by  the  red  man.  These  baptismal  names, 
the  legacy  of  the  Indian,  it  were  prodigality  to  cast 
away.  To  the  future  scholar  this  subject  will  com 
mend  itself,  when,  perchance,  the  dusky  mantle  of 
obscurity  has  enshrouded  it,  and  research  itself  can 
not  penetrate  the  covering. 

In  an  antiquarian  aspect,  it  may  be  considered 
fortunate,  that  as  the  villages  and  settlements  of  the 
Ho-de'-no-sau-nee  disappeared,  and  the  cities  and  vil 
lages  of  the  succeeding  race  were  reared  upon  their 
sites,  all  of  these  ancient  names  were  transferred  to 

78 


METHOD    OF    BESTOWING    NAMES 

these  substituted  habitations.  Yielding  step  by  step, 
and  contracting  their  possessions  from  year  to  year, 
the  Iroquois  yet  continued  in  the  constant  use  of 
their  original  names,  although  the  localities  them 
selves  had  been  surrendered.  If  a  Seneca,  for  ex 
ample,  were  to  refer  to  Geneva,  he  would  still  say 
Ga-nuri-da-sa'-ga ;  and  the  Oneida  in  like  manner 
would  call  Utica,  Nun-da-da' -sis.  All  of  these  locali 
ties,  as  well  as  our  rivers,  lakes  and  streams,  still 
dwell  in  the  memory  of  the  Iroquois  by  their  ancient 
names,  while  such  places  as  have  sprung  up  on  nameless 
sites,  since  they  surrendered  their  domain,  have  been 
christened  as  they  appeared.  These  names,  likewise, 
are  significant,  and  are  either  descriptive  of  features 
of  the  country,  the  record  of  some  historical  event, 
or  interwoven  with  some  tradition.  From  these  causes 
their  geography  has  been  preserved  among  them  with 
remarkable  accuracy. 

The  Iroquois  method  of  bestowing  names  was 
peculiar.  It  frequently  happened  that  the  same  lake 
or  river  was  recognized  by  them  under  several  differ 
ent  names.  This .  was  eminently  the  case  with  the 
larger  lakes.  It  was  customary  to  give  to  them 
the  name  of  some  village  or  locality  upon  their  bor 
ders.  The  Seneca  word  Te-car-ne-o-di'^  means  some 
thing  more  than  "  lake."  It  includes  the  idea  of 
nearness,  literally,  "the  lake  at."  Hence,  if  a  Seneca 
were  asked  the  name  of  lake  Ontario,  he  would  an 
swer,  Ne-ati-ga  Te-car-ne-o-di',  the  lake  at  Ne-aK-ga" 
This  was  a  Seneca  village  at  the  mouth  of  the  Niagara 
river.  If  an  Onondaga  were  asked  the  same  question, 
he  would  prefix  Swa-geti  to  the  word  lake,  literally, 

79 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

"  the  lake  of  Oswego."  l  The  same  multiplicity  of 
names  frequently  arose  in  relation  to  the  principal 
rivers,  where  they  passed  through  the  territories  of 
more  than  one  nation.(7G)  It  was  not,  however,  the 
case  with  villages  and  other  localities. 

The  principal  villages  of  the  Iroquois,  in  the  days 
of  aboriginal  dominion,  were  connected  by  well-beaten 
trails.(41j  These  villages  were  so  situated  that  the 
central  trail,  which  started  from  the  Hudson  at  the 
site  of  Albany,  passed  through  those  of  the  Mohawks 
and  Oneidas ;  and,  crossing  the  Onondaga  valley  and 
the  Cayuga  country,  a  few  miles  north  of  the  chief 
settlements  of  these  nations,  it  passed  through  the 
most  prominent  villages  of  the  Senecas,  in  its  route 
to  the  valley  of  the  Genesee.  After  crossing  this 
celebrated  valley,  it  proceeded  westward  to  lake  Erie, 
coming  out  upon  it  at  the  mouth  of  Buffalo  creek,  on 
the  present  site  of  Buffalo. 

Since  this  Indian  highway  passed  through  the 
centre  of  the  Long  House,(12G)  as  well  as  through  the 
fairest  portions  of  New  York,  it  is  desirable  to  com 
mence  with  this  trail  on  the  Hudson,  and  trace  it 
through  the  State.  It  will  furnish  the  most  conven 
ient  method  of  noticing  such  stopping-places  as  were 
marked  with  appropriate  names  in  the  dialects  of  the 
Iroquois,  and  also  the  Indian  villages  which  dotted 
this  extended  route. 

Albany,   at  which   point   the   trail   started  from  the 

1  Lake  Ontario  -was  known  at  an  early  day  among  the  English  as  lake 
Cataraque.  The  root  of  this  word,  Ga-dai '-o-que  in  Onondaga,  Ga-da'- 
loque  in  Oneida,  and  Ga-da-o'-ka  in  Seneca,  signifies  "  A  fort  in  the 
water." 

80 


CENTRAL     TRAIL 

Hudson,  owes  its  Iroquois  name  to  the  openings 
which  lay  between  that  river  and  the  Mohawk  at 
Schenectady.  Long  anterior  to  the  foundation  of 
the  city,  this  site  was  well  known  to  our  predecessors 
under  the  name  of  Skd-neJi-td-de.  The  name  is  given 
in  the  Seneca  dialect,  and  signifies  "  beyond  the  open 
ings."  l  Out  of  this  name  originated  that  of  the 
Hudson,  Ska-neti-ta-de  Ga-hun-da^  "  the  river  beyond 
the  openings." 

Leaving  the  Hudson  at  the  site  of  Albany,  the 
trail  took  the  direction  of  the  old  turnpike  north  of 
the  capitol,  and  proceeded,  mostly  on  the  line  of  this 
road,  to  a  spring  which  issued  from  a  ravine  about  six 
miles  west.  From  thence  it  continued  towards  Sche 
nectady,  and  descending  the  ravine  through  which  the 
railway  passes,  it  came  upon  the  Mohawk  at  the  site 
of  this  city,  and  crossed  the  river  at  the  fording-place, 
where  the  toll-bridge  has  since  been  erected.  Sche 
nectady  has  not  only  appropriated  the  Indian  name 
of  Albany,  but  has,  by  inheritance,  one  of  the  most 
euphonious  names  in  the  dialects  of  the  Iroquois,  as 
given  by  the  Oneidas.  It  was  christened  O-no-af-i- 
gone^  which  signifies  "  in  the  head,"  a  somewhat  fanciful 
geographical  name. 

From  this  fording-place,  two  trails  passed  up  the 
Mohawk,  one  upon  each  side.  That  upon  the  south 
was  most  travelled,  as  the  three  Mohawk  castles,  as 
they  were  termed,  or  principal  villages,  were  upon 

1  In  the   Seneca    dialect   this  word    is   compounded  of  Ga-neh'-ta-yeh, 
"  openings/1  and  Se'-gwa,  "  beyond."      In  the  same  manner  Skai'-da-de, 
"beyond   the  swamp,"  is  a  compound  of  Gai'-td-yeh,  "a  swamp,"  and 
Se'-gwd,    "beyond." 
VOL.  ir.— 6 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I  R  O      U  O  I  S 


that  side.  Following  the  valley,  and  pursuing  the 
windings  of  the  river,  the  trail  crossed  the  Schoharie 
creek,  Ose-ho-kar'-la,  and  entered  Te-hon-da-lo-ga^  the 
lower  castle  of  the  Mohawks,  situated  upon  the  west 
side  of  this  creek,  at  its  junction  with  the  river.  At  a 
subsequent  day  Fort  Hunter  was  located  near  the  site 
of  this  Indian  village.  From  thence  the  trail,  continu 
ing  up  the  valley  nearly  on  the  line  subsequently  pur 
sued  by  the  canal,  crossed  the  Canajoharie  creek  near 
its  junction  with  the  river,  and  led  up  to  Canajoharie, 
Ga-rid-jo-ha-e?  *or  the  middle  Mohawk  castle.  This 
favorite  and  populous  village  occupied  a  little  eminence 
upon  the  east  bank  of  the  Ot-squa-go  creek,  and  over 
looking  the  present  site  of  Fort  Plain.  From  Canajo 
harie,  the  trail  followed  up  the  river  to  Ga-ne-ga-ha'-ga, 
the  upper  Mohawk  castle,  which  was  situated  in  the 
town  of  Danube,  Herkimer  county,  nearly  opposite 
the  mouth  of  the  East  Canada  creek.  Leaving  this 
Indian  village,  the  last  in  the  territory  of  the  Mohawks, 
the  trail  pursued  the  bank  of  the  river  without  passing 
any  other  stopping-place,  until  it  reached  the  site  of 
Utica,  in  the  country  of  the  Oneidas. 

Near  this  city,  on  the  east  side,  the  trail  passed 
around  the  base  of  a  hill,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  be 
noticeable  for  its  singularity.  Hence,  Nun-da-da  '-sis  •, 
signifying  "  around  the  hill,"  was  bestowed  upon  this 
locality,  as  a  name  descriptive  of  the  course  of  the 
trail.  When  Utica  at  a  subsequent  day  sprang  up 

i  Tliis  word  signifies  "  washing  the  basin."  In  the  bed  of  the  Cana 
joharie  creek  there  is  said  to  be  a  basin,  several  feet  in  diameter,  with  a 
symmetrical  concavity,  washed  out  in  the  rock.  Hence  the  name  Ca-na- 
jo'-hti-e.  One  would  naturally  have  expected  to  have  found  the  Indian 
village  upon  this  creek,  instead  of  the  Ot-squa'-go.(77) 

82 


YA-WA-ODA-QUAoR   PINCUSHION 


COURSE    OF  THE    CENTRAL     TRAIL 

near  this  spot,  the  name  was  transferred,  according  to 
the  custom  of  the  Iroquois,  to  the  city  itself. 

From  Utica,  the  trail  proceeded  up  the  river,  and 
crossing  the  Whitesboro  creek,  at  Whitesboro,  Che- 
ga-queh)  and  the  Oriskany  creek,  Ole-his'-ka,  at  Oris- 
kany,  it  continued  up  the  bank  of  the  Mohawk  to 
Rome,  where  this  river  turns  to  the  north. 

The  site  of  Rome  was  an  important  stopping-place 
with  the  Iroquois,  both  as  the  terminus  of  the  trails 
upon  the  Mohawk,  and  as  a  carrying-place  for  canoes. 
A  narrow  ridge  at  this  point  forms  a  division  between 
those  waters  which  flow  through  the  Mohawk  and  the 
Hudson,  and  those  which  flow  through  lake  Ontario, 
and  the  St.  Lawrence.  The  portage  from  the  Mohawk 
to  Wood  creek,  was  about  a  mile.  In  the  days  of 
aboriginal  sovereignty,  the  amount  of  navigation,  in 
bark  canoes,  upon  the  large  lakes,  as  well  as  upon  the 
smaller  lakes  and  rivers,  was  much  greater  than  we 
would  be  apt  to  suspect.  Birch-bark  canoes  would 
find  their  way  from  Detroit,  and  even  beyond  to 
Rome  and  Schenectady.  Others  from  Kingston, 
would  make  their  way  into  the  Cayuga1  and  Seneca 
lakes,  and  on  to  the  old  trading-post  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Niagara  river.  Such  was  the  facility  of  transpor 
tation,  owing  to  the  lightness  of  the  vessel,  that  the 
portage  made  but  a  slight  obstruction.  In  an  hour 

1  In  1793,  a  canoe  laded  with  twelve  hundred  pounds  of  fur  started 
from  Kingston  in  Canada  5  and  having  coasted  the  lake  to  the  Great 
Sodus  bay,  Seo-dose',  and  been  transported  from  thence  over  the  portage 
to  Clyde  river,  it  made  its  way  into  the  Cayuga  lake  and  up  to  Aurora, 
De-a-iven' -dote  ;  where  the  furs  were  transhipped  in  a  bateau  for  Albany. 
The  canoe  was  owned  for  some  years  afterwards  by  Col.  Payne,  one  of 
the  first  settlers  of  Aurora. 

83 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

after  drawing  out  the  canoe  from  Wood  creek,  it  was 
floating  again  upon  the  Mohawk ;  and  the  cargo 
having  also  been  carried  over,  the  frail  vessel  was 
soon  re-laded,  and  under  weigh  upon  the  descending 
stream.1  The  aboriginal  name  of  this  locality,  Da-ya- 
hoo-wa-quat)  which  signifies  a  "  place  for  carrying 
boats,"  has  been  bestowed  upon  Rome. 

The  trail  upon  the  north  bank  of  the  Mohawk 
ascended  the  river  from  Schenectady  nearly  upon  the 
line  since  pursued  by  the  turnpike.  At  Tribes  Hill, 
nearly  opposite  the  lower  Mohawk  castle,  a  branch 
trail  crossed  the  country  to  Johnstown,  Ko-la-ne'-kay 
a  few  miles  north  from  the  river. (42)  This  was  the 
name  bestowed  upon  the  residence  of  Sir  William 
Johnson,  the  Indian  superintendent.  From  the 
period  of  the  settlement  of  this  distinguished  person 
age  in  the  country  of  the  Mohawks,  and  more  espe 
cially  after  the  battle  of  lake  George  in  1755,  he  acquired 
and  maintained,  until  his  death  in  1774,  a  greater 
personal  influence  over  the  Iroquois  than  was  ever 
possessed  by  any  other  individual,  or  even  by  any 
government.  A  careful  scrutiny  of  his  intercourse 
with  the  Iroquois  shows  that  he  exercised  a  watchful 
care  over  their  welfare,  and  that  his  conduct  was  gov- 

1  For  many  years  after  the  commencement  (about  1790)  of  the  settle 
ment  of  Western  New  York,  the  greater  part  of  the  supplies  of  merchandise 
from  the  east,  as  well  as  the  immigrants  who  flocked  thitherward,  with 
their  household  goods  and  farming  implements,  ascended  the  Mohawk 
in  bateaus  or  small  river  boats  as  far  as  Rome.  Having  drawn  out  their 
vessels  at  this  portage  and  unladed  them,  they  carried  them  over  the 
ridge  and  launched  them  into  Wood  creek.  Descending  to  the  Oswego 
river,  which  is  formed  by  the  outlets  of  the  principal  inland  lakes  of  the 
State,  the  whole  lake  country  was  open  before  them.  Like  the  Iroquois, 
they  made  use  of  the  natural  highways  of  the  country. 

84 


KO-LA-NE'-KA 

erned  by  the  most  enlightened  principles  of  rectitude 
and  benevolence.  To  this  fact  he  owed  his  personal 
popularity,  and  the  affectionate  respect  with  which  the 
Iroquois  ever  regarded  him.  His  house  at  Ko-ld-ne- 
ka  was  a  favorite  place  of  Indian  resort;  and  the  Mo 
hawk  and  the  Seneca,  the  Oneida  and  the  Cayuga  felt 
as  much  at  ease  under  the  roof  of  the  baronet  as  beneath 
the  wide-spread  shelter  of  their  own  forests/27' 31) 

Leaving  Johnstown,  the  trail  came  down  again  upon 
the  Mohawk  at  the  small  Indian  village  of  Go-no - 
wau-ga,  near  the  site  of  Fonda,  where  it  intersected  the 
river  trail.  Continuing  up  the  Mohawk,  and  crossing 
the  East  Canada  creek,  Date-car'-hu-har'-lo^  and  over  the 
site  of  Little  Falls,  Ta-ld-que-ga,  it  came  next  upon  the 
West  Canada  creek,  Te-uge-ga,  and  from  thence  led 
up  to  the  portage  at  the  site  of  Rome. 

As  with  lake  Ontario,  the  Mohawk  river  was  known 
under  a  multiplicity  of  names.  It  is  difficult  now  to 
determine  whether  it  had  any  general  name  running 
through  the  several  dialects  by  which  it  was  known  to 
all  the  nations  of  the  League.  Among  the  Senecas, 
the  West  Canada  creek  was  considered  the  true  head 
of  the  river,  and  this  stream,  together  with  the  Mo 
hawk  from  Herkimer  to  the  Hudson,  was  known  as 
one  river  under  the  name  of  Te-uge-ga,  while  the 
Mohawk  from  the  junction  of  the  West  Canada  creek 
to  its  source  was  regarded  as  a  branch  under  the  name 
of  Da-yd-hoo-wd'-quat.  With  the  Oneidas  and  Onon- 
dagas  it  was  known  under  the  last  name,  or  the  word 
which,  in  their  respective  dialects,  signifies  the  same 
thing/76) 

From  Rome,  the  main  trail,  taking  a  south-west 

85 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I  R  O  <U  O  I  S 


direction,  passed  through  Verona,  Te-o-na-f'd/e  ,  and 
finally  came  out  at  Oneida  castle.  This  was  the  prin 
cipal  village  of  the  Oneidas,  called  in  their  dialect  Gd- 
no-'d-lo  '-hale  ',  which  is  rendered  "  a  head  on  a  pole."  In 
this  beautifully  situated  Indian  village,  burned  the 
council-fire  of  one  of  the  nations  of  the  League.  The 
Oneidas  were  fortunate  in  the  location  of  their  territo 
ries,  embracing  as  they  did  not  only  some  of  the  finest 
agricultural  districts  of  the  State,  but  the  most  attrac 
tive  localities  in  its  central  parts. 

Fording  the  Oneida  creek  at  the  Indian  village,  the 
trail,  continuing  west,  passed  near  the  site  of  Canestota, 
Kd-ne-to'-td,  crossed  the  Canaseraga  creek,  K'd-rid-so- 
w'd'-ga,  near  the  site  of  the  village  of  the  same  name, 
the  Chittenango  creek,  Cbu-de-ridng,  at  the  site  of 
Chittenango,  and  from  thence  led  up  to  the  Deep 
Spring  near  Manlius,  on  the  boundary  line  between 
the  territories  of  the  Oneidas  and  Onondagas.  This 
spring  was  known  under  the  name  of  De-o-sd-dd-ya-ah, 
signifying  "  the  spring  in  the  deep  basin,"  and  was  a 
favorite  stopping-place  of  the  Iroquois  in  their  jour 
neys  upon  the  great  thoroughfare. 

Leaving  this  locality,  and  continuing  west,  the  trail 
forded  the  Limestone  creek,  De-a-o-no'-he,  at  the  site 
of  Manlius,  and  proceeding  mostly  on  the  line  since 
pursued  by  the  turnpike,  it  crossed  the  Jamesville 
creek,  Gd-sun'-foy  at  the  site  of  Jamesville,  and  from 
thence  descending  into  the  Onondaga  valley,  it  crossed 
the  Onondaga  river,  O  -nun-da  -ga,  and  entered  the  In 
dian  village  of  Gis-twe-ati-na,  which  occupied  the  site 
of  the  present  village  of  Onondaga  Hollow. 

The  Onondagas  made  this  picturesque  and  fertile 

86 


COURSE    OF    THE    CENTRAL    TRAIL 

valley  their  chief  place  of  residence.  Here  was  the 
Council-Brand  of  the  confederacy,  which  rendered  it 
the  sylvan  seat  of  government  of  the  League.  In  the 
estimation  of  the  Iroquois,  it  was  a  consecrated  vale. 
Their  eloquence,  their  legendary  lore,  and  their  civil 
history,  were  all  interwoven,  by  association,  with  this 
favorite  valley.  Here  their  sachems  gathered  together 
in  the  days  of  aboriginal  supremacy,  to  legislate  for 
the  welfare  of  the  race.  Here  they  strengthened  and 
renewed  the  bonds  of  friendship  and  patriotism,  in 
dulged  in  exultation  over  their  advancing  prosperity, 
and  counselled  together  to  arrest  impending  dangers, 
or  repair  the  mischances  of  the  past.  As  it  was  upon 
the  northern  bank  of  the  Onondaga  lake  that  the 
League  was  formed,  the  united  nations  habitually 
turned  to  the  Onondaga  valley  as  the  place  to  brighten 
the  chain  of  brotherhood. 

Upon  the  Onondaga  river,  O-nun-da-gay  were  the 
principal  villages  of  the  Onondagas.  There  were  but 
three  of  any  note ;  one  of  them  has  been  mentioned 
as  on  the  line  of  the  great  trail.  The  chief  village  was 
Onondaga  castle,  Ka-rid-ta-go'-way  situated  upon  both 
sides  of  the  river,  about  four  miles  above  Gis-twe-ati- 
na.  It  was  quite  a  populous  village  in  the  days  of 
their  highest  prosperity.  Around  the  council-brand 
which  burned  in  this  secluded  place,  the  sachems  of 
the  League  were  wont  to  meet.  About  three  miles  far 
ther  up  the  river,  and  upon  the  west  side,  the  Indian 
village  of  Nan-ta-sa-sis  was  situated  near  the  skirts  of 
the  hill.  There  was  another  considerable  village  on 
the  uplands  about  four  miles  east  of  Onondaga  castle, 
called  Tu-e-a-das'-so.  Throughout  the  whole  length 

87 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

of  the  beautiful  valley  of  the  Onondaga,  the  bark 
houses  of  the  people  were  sprinkled. 

After  crossing  the  valley,  the  trail  passed  up  a  small 
ravine  to  the  top  of  the  hill,  where  it  took  a  north-west 
direction,  and  crossing  the  Nine-mile  creek,  Us'-fe-ka, 
at  the  site  of  Camillus,  O-ya-han,  it  went  up  to  a  stop 
ping-place  where  Carpenter's  tavern  was  subsequently 
erected,  near  the  site  of  Elbridge,  Ka-no-wa-ya.  From 
thence  fording  the  Jordan  creek,  Ha-nan-to^  and  pass 
ing  through  the  town  of  Sennet,  the  trail  came  upon 
the  Owasco  outlet,  Was'-co^  at  the  site  of  Auburn  ;  and 
forded  this  stream  a  short  distance  above  the  prison, 
at  the  point  where  the  "  Red  Store  "  was  subsequently 
erected.  This  locality  was  in  the  territory  of  the 
Cayugas,  and  its  name  signifies  "a  floating  bridge." 

The  Cayugas  had  but  a  few  small  villages,  as  the  peo 
ple  were  scattered  around  the  lake.  Their  principal 
village,  Ga-ya-ga-an'-ha,  was  situated  upon  the  bank 
of  a  creek  three  miles  south  of  Union  Springs,  and 
about  a  mile  and  a  half  back  from  the  lake.  Here 
was  the  council-house  of  the  nation.  There  was 
another  village  consisting  of  a  few  houses,  situated 
upon  the  site  of  Union  Springs,  which  was  called 
Ge-wau'-ga.  Steeltrap,  Hise'-ta-jee^  a  celebrated  Cay- 
uga  chief,  was  buried  here.  On  the  opposite  side 
of  the  lake  was  the  village  of  Ga-no'-geh,  occupying 
the  site  of  the  present  Cannoga.  Near  this  village 
was  the  birthplace  of  Red  Jacket.  Along  the  eastern 
margin  of  the  lake,  the  former  residences  of  the  Cayu 
gas  were  indicated  by  the  apple  and  peach  orchards 
which  they  left  behind  them.  Back  from  the  lake, 
upon  the  ridge,  similar  but  more  numerous  evidences 

88 


COURSE    OF  THE    CENTRAL     TRAIL 

of  Indian  occupation  were  to  be  found.  In  1779,  the 
villages  of  the  Cayugas  were  destroyed  by  General 
Sullivan. 

Leaving  the  site  of  Auburn,  the  trail  proceeded 
nearly  on  the  line  of  the  turnpike,  half-way  to  the 
lake,  where  it  turned  out  upon  the  south  side  and 
came  down  upon  the  lake  about  half  a  mile  above  Cay- 
uga  bridge,  Was-gwase' .  At  the  precise  point  where 
the  trail  reached  the  shore,  the  original  Cayuga  ferry 
was  established.  The  trail,  turning  down  the  lake,  and 
following  its  bank  about  four  miles  to  the  old  fording- 
place  near  the  lower  bridge,  there  crossed  the  foot  of 
the  lake,  and  came  out  upon  the  north  bank  of  the 
Seneca  river,  Swa'-geb.1  Following  up  the  north 
bank  of  the  river,  it  passed  over  the  site  of  Waterloo, 
Skoi-yase',  and  pursued  the  stream  up  to  its  outlet 
from  the  Seneca  lake.  A  shorter  route  from  the  east 
bank  of  the  Cayuga  was  taken  by  crossing  the  lake  in 
canoes  at  the  ferry,  and  proceeding  due  west  to  the 
river,  which  the  trail  came  upon  at  the  rapids  a  little 
above  Seneca  Falls.  Ascending  the  river  upon  the 
south  bank,  the  trail  passed  through  South  Waterloo, 
Skoi-yase',  and  continued  up  the  river  to  the  lake, 
where,  crossing  the  outlet,  it  intersected  the  other  trail. 
Having  run  along  the  foot  of  the  lake  upon  the  beach 

1  There  is  a  geographical  novelty  in  the  method  adopted  by  the  Iro- 
quois  to  designate  the  several  outlets  of  the  lakes  which,  united,  form  the 
Oswego  river.  Descending  from  the  Seneca  lake  to  Oswego,  the  river  was 
called  Swa'-geh  through  its  whole  length.  But  ascending  from  Oswego, 
it  was  called  the  Onondaga  river,  O-non-dd'-ga,  until  you  passed  the  out 
let  of  the  Onondaga  lake.  Then  it  was  called  the  Cayuga  river,  G<wa-u  - 
giveh,  until  you  passed  the  Cayuga  outlet.  After  that  it  was  called  the 
Seneca  river,  Ga-nun-da-sa'-ga,  up  to  the  Seneca  lake.(7G) 

89 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

to  the  present  site  of  Geneva,  Ga-nun-dd-sd -ga^  it 
turned  up  the  Geneva  creek,  which  it  ascended  about 
one  and  a  half  miles  north-west,  to  the  Indian  village 
of  Ga-nun-da-sa'-ga,  the  first  in  the  territory  of  the 
Senecas. 

This  name,  which  signifies  "  a  new  settlement  vil 
lage,"  was  bestowed  upon  the  lake,  the  creek,  and  also 
upon  the  outlet.  At  a  subsequent  day  it  was  trans 
ferred  to  Geneva.  During  the  destructive  inroad  of 
General  Sullivan,  in  September,  1779,  the  Indian 
village  was  entirely  destroyed.  No  efforts  were  ever 
made  subsequently  to  rebuild  it.  Many  of  the  old 
trees  in  the  Indian  orchard  are  still  standing  and  yield 
fruit,  although  partially  girdled  at  the  time.  The 
artificial  burial  mound1  about  one  hundred  paces  in 

1  There  is  an  interesting  tradition  connected  with  this  mound.  The 
Senecas  say  that  they  once  had  a  protector,  a  mighty  giant,  taller  than 
the  tallest  trees,  who  split  the  largest  hickory  for  his  bow,  and  used  pine- 
trees  for  his  arrows.  He  once  wandered  west  to  the  Mississippi,  and 
from  thence  east  again  to  the  sea.  Returning  homeward  over  the  moun 
tains  along  the  Hudson,  he  saw  a  great  bird  on  the  water,  flapping  its  wings 
as  if  it  wished  to  get  out,  so  he  waded  in  and  lifted  it  on  land.  He  then 
saw  on  it  a  number  of  men,  who  appeared  dreadfully  frightened,  and  made 
signs  to  him  to  put  them  back  again.  He  did  so,  and  they  gave  him  a 
sword  and  a  musket,  with  powder  and  balls,  and  showed  him  how  to  use 
them,  after  which  the  bird  swam  off  and  he  saw  it  no  more.  Having  re 
turned  to  the  Senecas  at  Ga-nun-dd-sa'-ga,  he  exhibited  to  them  the  won 
derful  implements  of  destruction,  and  fired  the  gun  before  them.  They 
were  exceedingly  terrified  at  the  report,  and  reproached  him  for  bringing 
such  terrible  things  among  them,  and  told  him  to  take  them  away  again, 
for  they  would  be  the  destruction  of  the  Indians,  and  he  was  an  enemy 
to  their  nation  who  had  brought  them  there.  Much  grieved  at  their  re 
proaches,  he  left  the  council,  taking  the  dreaded  weapons  with  him,  and 
lay  down  in  a  field.  The  next  morning  he  was  found,  from  some  myste 
rious  cause,  dead,  and  this  mound  was  raised  over  his  body  where  it  lay. 
It  is  averred  by  the  Onondagas,  that  if  the  mound  should  be  opened  a 
skeleton  of  supernatural  size  would  be  found  underneath. 

90 


COURSE    OF    THE    CENTRAL     TRAIL 

circuit,  still  remains  undisturbed,  and  also  the  trenches 
of  a  picket  enclosure,  seventy  by  forty  feet  on  the 
ground  plan,  concerning  the  erection  and  uses  of 
which  but  little  can  be  ascertained. 

From  Gd-nun-da-sd-ga  the  trail  proceeded  through 
the  towns  of  Seneca  and  Hopewell,  nearly  on  the  line 
of  the  turnpike,  to  the  Indian  village  of  Ga -nun-da - 
gwa,  situated  at  the  foot  of  the  lake  of  the  same  name. 
It  signifies  "  a  place  selected  for  a  settlement."  Ca- 
nandaigua,  the  fairest  of  all  the  villages  which  have 
sprung  into  life  upon  the  central  trail  of  the  Iroquois, 
not  only  occupies  the  site  of  the  Indian  village,  but 
has  accepted  and  preserved  its  name  with  unusual 
accuracy  ;  the  only  legacy  which  the  retiring  Seneca 
could  bestow,  save  the  beautiful  natural  scenery  by 
which  it  is  surrounded,  and  which  induced  him  "  to 
select  it  for  a  settlement." 

Leaving  Canandaigua  were  two  trails.  One  turn 
ing  south-west,  passed  through  the  town  of  Bristol, 
and  led  to  the  foot  of  the  Honeoye  lake,  Ha-ne-a-ya . 
After  crossing  the  outlet,  it  continued  west  through 
the  town  of  Richmond,  going  over  the  hill  in  sight  of 
the  Hemlock  lake,  O-neb'-da,  and  coming  out  upon 
the  Connesus,  Ga-ne-a'-sos,  near  the  north  end.  Fol 
lowing  the  shore  to  the  foot  of  the  lake,  and  fording 
the  outlet,  it  proceeded  west,  passing  over  the  site  of 
Geneseo,  0-ha-di,  and  crossing  the  valley  and  the 
river  Genesee,  Gen-nis-he-yo,  it  led  into  Little  Beards 
town,  De-o-nun'-da-ga-a,  the  most  populous  village  of 
the  Senecas.  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  root  of 
the  word  Genesee  was  the  name  of  the  valley  and  not 
of  the  river,  the  latter  deriving  its  name  from  the 

91 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

former.  Gen-nis'-he-yo  signifies  "  the  beautiful  valley," 
a  name  most  fitly  bestowed. 

The  other  trail,  which  was  the  main  highway,  leav 
ing  Canandaigua,  passed  along  the  north  road,  over 
the  site  of  West  Bloomfield,  G'd-nun '-d'd-ok^  and  the 
Honeoye  outlet,  and  proceeded  to  the  Indian  village 
of  Ska-base -ga-o,  on  the  site  of  Lima.  From  thence, 
proceeding  westward  nearly  on  the  line  since  pursued 
by  the  State  road,  it  passed  over  the  site  of  Avon, 
Ga-no-wau-geSy  and,  descending  into  the  valley  of  the 
Genesee,  crossed  the  river  a  few  rods  above  the  Avon 
bridge,  and  followed  along  its  bank  up  to  the  Indian 
village  of  Ga-no-wau-ges,  about  a  mile  above  the  ford. 
This  word  signifies  "  fetid  waters,"  and  was  bestowed 
by  the  Senecas  upon  the  sulphur  springs  at  Avon,  and 
upon  the  whole  adjacent  country. 

Departing  from  the  valley  of  the  Genesee,  the  trail, 
taking  a  north-west  direction,  led  to  the  Caledonia 
cold  spring,  De-o'-na-ga-no,  a  well-known  stopping- 
place  on  the  central  trail  through  the  territories  of 
the  Iroquois.  Proceeding  westward  from  thence,  it 
came  upon  Allen's  creek,  O-at'-kay  at  the  dam  near 
the  rapids,  in  the  village  of  Le  Roy.  This  fording- 
place  was  known  under  the  name  'Te-car-no-wan-ne- 
da-ne-O)  rendered  "  many  falls,"  which  is  accurately 
descriptive  of  the  locality.  This  name  has  been  con 
ferred  upon  Le  Roy.  After  turning  up  the  stream 
about  a  mile  to  avoid  a  marsh  near  the  rapids,  the 
trail  again  proceeded  west,  and  crossing  Black  creek, 
Ja-go'-o-ga,  near  Stafford,  it  continued  in  a  westerly 
direction,  and  finally  came  out  upon  the  Tonawanda 
creek,  Ta-na-wun-da,  about  a  mile  above  Batavia,  to 

92 


COURSE    OF    THE    CENTRAL     TRAIL 

which  it  led.  The  ancient  name  of  Batavia,  or  rather 
of  the  locality  itself,  was  De-o'-on-go-way  which  signi 
fies  "  the  grand  hearing-place."  Here  the  rapids  in 
the  Tonawanda  creek  first  began  to  be  heard,  and 
some  assert  that  the  distant  roar  of  Niagara  could  be 
heard  by  the  practiced  ear  of  the  Indian,  at  this  point, 
in  certain  states  of  the  atmosphere. 

Descending  the  creek,  the  trail  passed  over  the  site 
of  Batavia.  At  the  point  where  the  arsenal  now 
stands,  it  turned  north-west  through  the  oak-openings 
to  Caryville,  and  came  again  upon  the  creek  at 
"  Washington's  fording-place,"  where  it  crossed,  and 
led  to  the  Indian  village  of  Ta-na-wun-day  one  of  the 
present  villages  of  the  Senecas,  situated  upon  the  bor 
ders  of  the  great  swamp  which  stretches  for  many 
miles  along  the  Tonawanda  creek.  On  leaving  the 
Indian  village  the  trail  branched.  One  taking  a 
north-west  direction,  recrossed  the  creek  at  a  short 
distance  below  the  village,  and  passing  through  the 
swamp,  out  of  which  it  emerged  near  Royalton,  it 
proceeded  direct  to  De-o'-na-ga-no,  or  the  Cold 
Spring,  about  two  miles  north-east  of  Lockport,  Ta- 
ga-ote.  From  thence  continuing  north-west,  it  came 
out  upon  the  ridge-road,  where  it  intersected  the  On 
tario,  or  ridge  trail,  and  followed  this  ridge  westward  to 
Ga-a-no'-ga,  the  Tuscarora  Indian  village  on  Lewiston 
Heights.  Here  was  the  termination  of  one  branch 
of  the  main  trail  upon  the  bank  of  the  Niagara  river. 
This  was  the  route  to  Canada.(44'42) 

The  other  trail,  leaving  the  village  of  Tonawanda, 
took  a  south-west  direction,  and  having  forded 
Murder  creek,  De-o-oon-go'-at,  at  Akron,  and  the 

93 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

Eighteen-mile  creek,  Ta-nun-no-ga-o,  at  Clarence 
Hollow,  it  continued  west,  crossing  Kllicott  creek, 
Ga-da-o-y'a-deh)  at  Williamsville,  Ga-sko-sa-da -ne-o  ^ 
and  leading  direct  to  the  Cold  Spring,  it  finally  came 
upon  the  site  of  Buffalo  at  the  head  of  Main  street, 
and  descended  to  the  mouth  of  the  creek,  within  the 
limits  of  the  city.  Here  was  the  western  terminus  of 
the  central  trail ;  and  like  its  eastern  terminus  on  the 
Hudson,  it  has  become  a  point  of  great  commercial 
importance,  and  the  site  of  a  flourishing  city.  It  is 
not  a  little  remarkable,  that  these  two  geographical 
points  should  have  been  as  clearly  indicated,  as  places 
of  departure,  by  the  migrations  of  the  red  race,  as 
they  have  been  at  a  subsequent  day,  by  the  migrations 
of  our  own.' 

We  have  thus  followed  the  great  Indian  trail, 
Wa-a-gwen'-ne-yU)  through  the  State,  from  the  Hud 
son  to  lake  Erie ;  noticing,  as  far  as  ascertained,  the 
principal  stopping-places  on  the  route.  To  convey 
an  adequate  impression  of  the  forest  scenery,  which 
then  overspread  the  land,  is  beyond  the  power  of 
description.  This  trail  was  traced  through  the  over 
hanging  forest  for  almost  its  entire  length.  In  the 
trail  itself,  there  was  nothing  particularly  remarkable. 
It  was  usually  from  twelve  to  eighteen  inches  wide, 
and  deeply  worn  in  the  ground ;  varying  in  this 
respect  from  three  to  six,  and  even  twelve  inches, 
depending  upon  the  firmness  of  the  soil.  The  large 
trees  on  each  side  were  frequently  marked  with  the 
hatchet.(41)  This  well-beaten  footpath,(41)  which  no  run 
ner,  nor  band  of  warriors  could  mistake,  had  doubt 
less  been  trodden  by  successive  generations  from 

94 


HIGHWAY    OF    THE    CONTINENT 

century  to  century.  It  had,  without  question,  been 
handed  down  from  race  to  race,  as  the  natural  line 
of  travel,  geographically  considered,  between  the  Hud 
son  and  lake  Erie.  While  it  is  scarcely  possible  to 
ascertain  a  more  direct  route  than  the  one  pursued  by 
this  trail,  the  accuracy  with  which  it  was  traced  from 
point  to  point,  to  save  distance,  is  extremely  surpris 
ing.  It  proved,  on  the  survey  of  the  country,  to 
have  been  so  judiciously  selected  that  the  turnpike 
was  laid  out  mainly  on  the  line  of  this  trail,  from  one 
extremity  of  the  State  to  the  other.  In  addition  to 
this,  all  the  larger  cities  and  villages  west  of  the  Hud 
son,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  have  been  located 
upon  it.  As  an  independent  cause,  this  forest  high 
way  of  the  Iroquois  doubtless  determined  the  estab 
lishment  of  a  number  of  settlements,  which  have  since 
grown  up  into  cities  and  villages. 

There  are  many  interesting  considerations  con 
nected  with  the  routes  of  travel  pursued  by  the  abo 
rigines  ;  and  if  carefully  considered,  they  will  be 
found  to  indicate  the  natural  lines  of  migration  sug 
gested  by  the  topography  of  the  country.  The 
central  trail  of  the  Iroquois,  which  we  have  been 
tracing,  after  leaving  the  Mohawk  valley,  one  of 
nature's  highways,  became  essentially  an  artificial  road 
across  the  drainage  of  the  country,  fording  rivers, 
crossing  valleys,  and  traversing  marshes  and  dense 
forests,  pursuing  its  course  over  hill  and  plain, 
through  stream  and  thicket,  as  if  in  defiance  of  nature, 
without  an  aim  and  without  a  reason.  Yet  the  estab 
lishment  of  this  trail  between  two  such  points  as 
Albany  and  Buffalo,  exhibits  not  only  the  extent 

95 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I  RO^UOI  S 

and  accuracy  of  the  geographical  knowledge  of  our 
predecessors,(G)  but  also  indicates  the  active  intercourse 
which  must  have  been  maintained  between  the  various 
races  east  of  the  Mississippi.  The  tide  of  population 
which  has  poured  upon  the  west,  in  our  generation, 
mostly  along  the  line  of  this  old  trail  of  the  Ho-de'-no- 
sau-nee^  and  the  extraordinary  channel  of  trade  and 
intercourse  which  it  has  become,  between  the  north 
western  States  and  the  Atlantic,  sufficiently  and  forci 
bly  illustrate  the  fact  that  it  was  and  is,  and  ever  must 
be,  one  of  the  great  natural  highways  of  the  continent. 

Having  traced  the  main  trail  from  the  Hudson  to 
lake  Erie,  it  remains  to  notice  briefly  the  lake  and 
river  trails,  and  to  locate  such  Indian  villages  as  were 
situated  upon  them.  In  pursuing  this  inquiry,  the 
Ontario  trail  first  arrests  our  attention.  Bordering 
lake  Ontario,  from  Oswego  to  Lewiston,  there  is  a 
ridge  running,  for  the  entire  distance,  from  three  to 
six  miles  inland  from  the  shore,  and  mostly  a  continu 
ous  level.  From  the  shore-marks  everywhere  con 
spicuous,  it  is  generally  admitted  that  this  ridge  was 
anciently  the  shore  of  the  lake,  the  basin  of  which  has 
been  depressed  some  three  hundred  feet,  or  the  sur 
rounding  country  elevated  by  subterraneous  agencies. 
A  natural  road  is  formed  by  this  ancient  beach  from 
Oswego  to  Lewiston.  From  the  valley  of  Genesee  to 
Niagara,  it  was  extensively  travelled  by  the  Iroquois, 
as  one  of  the  routes  to  Canada. 

Oswego,  Swa'-gehy  was  a  point  of  considerable  im 
portance  to  our  predecessors,  both  as  the  terminus 
of  the  trails  which  descended  the  river  from  the 
Onondaga  and  Oneida  country,  and  as  the  inlet  of 

96 


NIAGARA 

intercourse  by  water  from  lake  Ontario.  Com 
mencing  at  the  site  of  this  place,  the  trail  followed 
the  ridge  to  the  westward,  until  it  came  upon  the 
Irondequoit  bay,  Nu-da-on'-da-quat,  when  it  turned 
up  the  bay  to  its  head.  From  the  head  of  the  bay, 
the  trail  turned  back  from  the  ridge,  and  proceeded 
direct  to  the  Genesee  ford,  at  Rochester,  Ga-sko'-sa-go, 
which  crossed  the  river  at  the  point  where  the  aque 
duct  has  since  been  constructed.  Turning  down  the 
river  to  the  lower  falls,  it  came  again  upon  the  ridge- 
road,  which  it  followed  westward  to  Ga-o-no'-geh,  the 
Tuscarora  village  near  Lewiston.  Here  was  the  prin 
cipal  crossing-place  into  Canada. 

Having  now  reached  the  banks  of  the  Niagara,  and 
the  vicinity  of  the  great  cataract,  the  derivation  of  the 
word  Niagara  suggests  itself  as  a  subject  for  inquiry. 
Colden  wrote  it  O-ni-ag-a-ra,  in  1741,*  and  he  must 
have  received  it  from  the  Mohawks  or  Oneidas.  It 
was  the  name  of  a  Seneca  village  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Niagara  river,  located  as  early  as  1650,  near  the  site 
of  Youngstown.  It  was  also  the  place  where  the 
Marquis  De  Nonville  constructed  a  fort  in  1687,  the 
building  of  which  brought  this  locality  under  the  par 
ticular  notice  of  the  English.  The  name  of  this 
Indian  village  in  the  dialect  of  the  Senecas  was 
Ne-ah-gd^  in  Tuscarora  O-ne-a'-kars,  in  Onondaga  O-ne- 
ah'-gdy  in  Oneida  O-ne-ah'-gdle,  and  in  Mohawk  O-ne- 
a'-gd-ra.  These  names  are  but  the  same  word  under 
dialectical  changes.  It  is  clear  that  Niagara  was  de 
rived  from  some  one  of  them,  and  thus  came  direct 
from  the  Iroquois  language.  The  signification  of  the 

1  Colden's  History  of  the  Five  Nations,  ed.  of  1741,  p.  79- 
VOL.  ii.  —  7  97 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

word  is  lost,  unless  it  be  derived,  as  some  of  the 
present  Iroquois  suppose,  from  the  word  which  signi 
fies  "  neck,"  in  Seneca  O-ne-a/i'-a,  in  Onondaga  O-ne- 
ya-a,  and  in  Oneida  O-ne'-ar/e.1 

The  name  of  this  Indian  village  was  bestowed  by 
the  Iroquois  upon  Youngstown  ;  upon  the  river  Ni 
agara,  from  the  falls  to  the  lake  ;  and  upon  lake 
Ontario,  as  has  been  elsewhere  stated. 

In  bestowing  names  upon  water-falls,  the  Iroquois 
custom  agrees  with  the  English.  The  name  of  the 
river  is  connected  with  the  word  "fall."  In  the  case 
of  Niagara  Falls,  however,  an  adjective  is  incorporated 
with  the  word  "  fall,"  as  the  idea  of  its  grandeur  and 
sublimity  appears  to  have  been  identified  with  the 
fall  itself.  Thus,  in  Onondaga  it  is  called  Date-car -sko- 
sis,  in  Seneca  Date-car -sko-sase^  the  word  Ne-ah'-ga 
being  understood.  It  signifies  "  the  highest  falls." 

In  the  broad  valley  of  the  Genesee,  the  Senecas 
established  most  of  their  villages.  Of  great  extent, 
boundless  fertility,  and  easy  cultivation,  it  became 
their  favorite  residence,  and  fully  deserved  the  appella 
tion  of  "  the  beautiful  valley,"  which  they  bestowed 
upon  it.  Its  situation  in  the  centre  of  their  territories, 
and  the  easily  forded  river  which  flowed  through  it, 
alike  invited  to  its  settlement.  At  the  period  of  their 
highest  prosperity,  it  became  the  most  thickly  peopled 
district  in  the  country  of  the  Iroquois. 

From  Rochester  there  were  two  trails  up  the  Gene- 
see,  one  upon  each  side.  That  upon  the  west  side, 
following  the  bank  of  the  river,  first  entered  the  small 

1  Bancroft  is  in  error  in  deriving  this  word  from  the  language  of  the 
Neuter  Nation. 

9s 


GENESEE    TRAIL 

Indian  village  of  0-at'-kay  upon  the  site  of  Scottsville ; 
and  continuing  up  the  valley  upon  the  flat,  it  next 
passed  into  the  Indian  village  of  Ga-no-wau'-ges,  before 
mentioned.1  From  thence  the  trail  pursued  the  wind 
ing  of  the  river  up  to  O-ha-gi,  a  Tuscarora  village  on 
the  flat,  between  two  and  three  miles  below  Cuyler- 
ville.  Proceeding  up  the  river,  it  next  led  up  to 
the  Seneca  village  of  Ga-un-do-wa-neh,  or  "  big  tree," 
which  was  situated  upon  the  hill  about  one  mile  north 
of  Cuylerville.  Here  at  a  subsequent  day  was  marked 
off  to  the  Senecas  the  "  Big  Tree  Reservation,"  in 
the  same  manner  as  they  had  reserved  a  tract  around 
the  favorite  village  of  Ga-no-wau'-ges.  Leaving  this 
village,  the  trail  turned  a  bend  in  the  river,  and  entered 
De-o-nuri-da-ga-a,  or  Little  Beard's  town,  also  before 
mentioned.  It  was  situated  upon  the  flat  immediately 
in  front  of  Cuylerville,  and  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
valley  from  Geneseo.  Adjacent  to  this  village,  upon 
the  sloping  bank,  was  a  small  settlement  called  Ga-neh'- 
da-on-twd.  There  was  also  an  Indian  village  upon  the 
site  of  Moscow,  Ga-nun'-da-sa.  The  trail,  following 
up  the  river,  next  turned  out  of  this  valley,  and  led 
up  to  Da-yo-ii-ga-o,  or  Squakie  Hill,  opposite  Mount 
Morris.  This  word  signifies  "  where  the  river  issues 
from  the  hills,"  and  it  is  beautifully  descriptive  of  the 
emergence  of  the  river  from  between  its  rocky  barriers 
into  the  broad  valley  of  the  Genesee. 

It  is  a  singular  feature  of  the  country,  geologically 
considered,  that  the  valley  follows  the  river  from  near 
Rochester  to  Mount  Morris  only.  At  the  latter  place 
the  river  is  suddenly  confined  in  a  narrow  channel  cut 

1  Mr.  NewbolcTs  farm  embraces  the  site  of  this  ancient  village. 

99 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

through  the  rock,  while  the  valley,  which  at  this  place 
is  about  three  miles  wide,  follows  the  Caneseraga  creek, 
Ga-nose'-ga-go,  up  to  Dansville,  situated  at  its  head. 
From  Mount  Morris  south,  up  the  Genesee,  the 
valley  is  narrow  and  irregular,  until  at  Portage  the 
whole  scenery  is  changed  into  rugged  declivities  and 
picturesque  water-falls.  On  the  Caneseraga  creek, 
however,  from  Dansville  down  to  Mount  Morris,  the 
scenery  and  the  valley  are  quite  the  same  as  upon  the 
Genesee  from  the  latter. place  to  Rochester.  This 
"  beautiful  valley  "  of  the  Senecas,  varying  from  one 
half  mile  to  three  miles  in  breadth,  for  the  distance  of 
forty  miles,  vies  with,  if  it  does  not  surpass,  the  more 
celebrated  valley  of  Wyoming. 

Leaving  Squakie  Hill,  the  trail  continued  up  the 
river,  crossing  the  outlet  of  the  Silver  lake,  Ga-na-yaf, 
and  entering  the  Indian  village  of  Ga-da-d ,  situated  in 
the  town  of  Castile,  Genesee  county.  Here,  at  a  sub 
sequent  day,  was  the  Gardow  Reservation.  From 
thence  the  trail  continued  up  the  river,  and  over  the 
site  of  Portage,  to  the  Indian  village  of  O-wa-is'-ki, 
near  the  confluence  of  the  creek  of  the  same  name 
with  the  Genesee.  Having  crossed  this  stream,  the 
trail  led  up  the  river  to  Ga-o-ya-de '-o ',  or  Caneadea,  the 
last  Seneca  village  upon  the  Genesee.  It  was  situated 
in  the  town  of  Hume,  in  the  county  of  Allegany.  The 
name  is  rendered,  "  the  heavens  leaning  against  the 
earth."  It  appears  that  there  was  an  extensive  open 
ing  at  this  locality,  on  looking  through  which  the 
heavens  and  earth  appeared  to  meet,  or  the  sky  seemed 
to  rest  upon  the  earth.  Subsequently,  there  was  a 
large  reserve  retained  by  the  Senecas  around  this 

TOO 


GISE-HAofl  DEER  SKIN  LE66IN 


GENESEE    TRAIL 

village,  which  is  still  marked  upon  old  maps  as  the 
"  Caneadea  Reservation."  In  this  manner  may  be 
discovered  the  favorite  residences  of  the  Senecas  upon 
the  river.  The  Genesee  trail,  which  we  have  been 
tracing,  was  one  of  the  routes  to  the  Allegany  river, 
O-hee-yo,  for  those  who  sought  to  descend  that  stream 
towards  the  south-west. 

O-hee-yo,  the  radix  of  the  word  Ohio,  signifies  "  the 
beautiful  river;"  and  the  Iroquois,  by  conferring  it 
upon  the  Allegany,  or  head  branch  of  the  Ohio,  have 
not  only  fixed  a  name  from  their  language  upon  one 
of  the  great  rivers  of  the  continent,  but  indirectly  upon 
one  of  the  noblest  States  of  our  Confederacy. 

The  trail  upon  the  east  side  of  the  Genesee,  started 
from  the  ford,  near  the  aqueduct,  at  Rochester,  and 
turning  a  little  back  from  the  river,  crossed  Mount 
Hope.  To  commemorate  the  fact,  one  of  the  princi 
pal  carriage-ways  through  the  cemetery,  which  was  laid 
upon  the  line  of  the  trail,  has  been  named  "  Indian 
Trail  Avenue."  Ascending  the  Genesee,  it  followed 
the  windings  of  the  river  up  to  Mount  Morris, 
So-no'-jo-wau-ga,  where  there  was  a  small  Indian  village, 
the  only  one  upon  the  east  bank  of  the  river.  So-no- 
jo-wau-ga,  or  Big  Kettle,  a  Seneca  orator,  scarcely  in 
ferior  to  Red  Jacket  in  the  estimation  of  the  nation, 
erected  his  sylvan  house  upon  the  site  of  Mount 
Morris ;  and  the  Senecas  bestowed  his  name  upon  the 
cluster  of  houses  which  sprung  up  around  him,  and  at 
a  subsequent  day  upon  Mount  Morris  itself,  one  of 
the  most  attractive  villages  in  the  region  of  the 
Genesee. 

From  thence  there  were  two  trails  up  the  Caneseraga 

ior 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

creek,  Ga-nose'-ga-go,  one  upon  each  side.  They  led 
up  to  the  small  Indian  village  of  Ga-nose-ga-go, 
situate  upon  the  site  of  Dansville,  at  the  head  of 
the  valley. 

Leaving  the  Genesee  country,  we  come  next  to  a 
system  of  trails  which  point  to  the  southward.  The 
Susquehanna  and  its  branches  penetrated  the  coun 
try  of  the  Mohawks,  Oneidas  and  Onondagas  on 
the  east  and  north,  while  the  Chemung  and  its 
branches  flowed  through  the  territory  of  the  Sene- 
cas,  from  near  the  Genesee,  upon  the  north-west. 
These  rivers,  by  their  junction  at  Tioga,  form  as  it 
were  a  triangle,  having  Tioga  point  as  its  apex,  and 
the  central  trail  through  the  State,  from  east  to  west, 
as  its  base.  Following  the  course  of  these  numerous 
streams  from  the  north-east  and  north-west,  these 
several  trails  converged  upon  Tioga,  and  descending 
the  Susquehanna,  formed  the  Great  Southern  trail, 
or  highway  of  travel  and  migration  into  the  south. 
The  trails  upon  the  Iroquois  lakes,  which  lay  north 
and  south,  in  a  measure  connected  the  Central  with 
the  Susquehanna  trail.  Within  this  triangle  were 
seated  the  Mohawk,  Oneida,  Tuscarora,  Onondaga, 
Cayuga,  and  a  part  of  the  Seneca  Nations. 

These  trails  running  upon  the  banks  of  the  rivers, 
which  are  the  highways  fashioned  by  the  hand  of 
nature,  need  not  be  minutely  traced,  as  they  followed 
the  windings  of  the  streams.  A  trail  descended  the 
Conhocton  river,  Ga-ha-to,  to  Tioga,  Ta-ya-o-ga. 
The  convergence  of  so  many  trails  upon  this  point, 
preparatory  to  a  descent  upon  the  south,  through 
Pennsylvania,  and  into  Virginia  on  the  west  side  of 

102 


CONHOCTON    TRAIL 

the   Blue  Ridge,  rendered  it  an  important  and  well- 
known  locality  among  the  Iroquois. 

From  Tioga  there  were  two  trails  up  the  Susque 
hanna,  Ga-wa-no-wa-na.  That  upon  the  north  bank 
ascending  the  river,  passed  over  the  site  of  Owego, 
Ah-wa-ga^  forded  the  Chenango,  O-che-ridng^  near 
its  mouth,  and  passing  over  the  site  of  Binghampton, 
Q-che-ridng  ^  continued  up  the  nver  to  the  junction  of 
the  Unadilla,  De-u-na-dil'-lo,  where  it  intersected  the 
trail  coming  down  from  the  Oneida  country.  Con 
tinuing  up  the  Susquehanna  to  the  junction  of  the 
Charlotte  river,  the  trail  branched.  One  ascended 
to  the  junction  of  the  Cherry  Valley  creek,  and  fol 
lowing  up  this  creek,  finally  passed  over  to  Canajoharie. 
The  other  trail,  having  ascended  the  Charlotte  river 
to  its  head,  crossed  over  to  the  Cobuskill,  As-ca-le-ge^ 
and  descended  that  stream  to  the  Schoharie  creek, 
where  it  intersected  the  Schoharie  trail,  from  the  lower 
castle  of  the  Mohawks.  From  Schoharie,  Ose-ko- 
har'-l'dy  a  branch  trail  turned  up  Foxes  creek,  and 
crossing  the  Helderberg  hills,  descended  to  Albany. 
Another  branch  leaving  the  Schoharie,  crossed  the 
town  of  Middleburgh  to  the  Caatskill  river,  and  de- 

O  ' 

scended  that  river  to  the  Hudson. 

Many  of  the  early  settlers  of  middle  Pennsylvania, 
and  nearly  all  of  our  people  who  located  themselves 
on  the  fertile  tracts  spread  out  upon  the  Susquehanna, 
entered  the  country  upon  these  trails,  which  were  the 
only  roads  opened  through  the  forest.  They  trusted 
entirely  for  their  route  to  the  well-beaten,  well-selected 
trails  of  the  Iroquois.  The  same  observation  applies 
to  the  central  trail,  which  before  the  opening  of 

103 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

regular  roads,  was  traversed  by  the  early  pioneers 
of  western  New  York,  with  their  horses,  cattle,  and 
implements  of  husbandry.  For  many  years  this 
trail  was  the  only  route  of  travel.  It  guided  the 
early  immigrants  into  the  heart  of  the  country,  and 
not  a  little  were  they  indebted  to  the  Iroquois  for  thus 
making  their  country  accessible. 

There  were  also  regular  beaten  trails  along  -the 
banks  of  our  inland  lakes,  which  were  used  for 
hunting  purposes,  for  mutual  intercourse,  and  as 
routes  of  communication  between  the  central  thor 
oughfare,  and  the  river  trails  which  converged  upon 
Tioga. 

We  have  thus  followed  the  devious  footsteps  of 
the  Iroquois,  for  many  "hundred  miles  through  their 
territories,  and  restored  some  of  the  names  in  use 
during  the  era  of  Indian  occupation.  Facts  of  this 
character  may  not  possess  a  general  interest;  but 
they  will  find  an  appropriate  place  among  our  abo 
riginal  remains.  The  trails  of  our  Indian  predeces 
sors,  indeed,  have  been  obliterated,  and  the  face  of 
nature  has  been  transformed  ;  but  all  recollection  of 
the  days  of  Indian  supremacy  cannot  as  easily  pass 
away.  They  will  ever  have  "  a  share  in  our  history." 

"The  Empire  State,  as  you  love  to  call  it,"  said  a 
Cayuga  chief  on  a  recent  occasion,  <f  was  once  laced 
by  our  trails  from  Albany  to  Buffalo,  —  trails  that  we 
had  trod  for  centuries,  —  trails  worn  so  deep  by  the 
feet  of  the  Iroquois,  that  they  became  your  roads  of 
travel,  as  your  possessions  gradually  eat  into  those  of 
my  people.  Your  roads  still  traverse  those  same 
lines  of  communication,  which  bound  one  part  of  the 

104 


YUNT    KATO    DA   TA    OR     DLER    SKIN    SHOULDER     BELT 


INDIAN    RUNNERS 

Long  House  to  the  other.  Have  we,  the  first  hold 
ers  of  this  prosperous  region,  no  longer  a  share  in 
your  history  ?  Glad  were  your  fathers  to  sit  down 
upon  the  threshold  of  the  Long  House.  Had  our 
forefathers  spurned  you  from  it,  when  the  French 
were  thundering  at  the  opposite  side  to  get  a  pas 
sage  through,  and  drive  you  into  the  sea,  whatever 
has  been  the  fate  of  other  Indians,  the  Iroquois 
might  still  have  been  a  nation,  and  I,  instead  of 
pleading  here  for  the  privilege  of  living  within  your 
borders,  I  --might  have  had  a  country."  l 

A  brief  reference  to  Indian  runners  will  not  be  in 
appropriate  in  this  connection.  To  convey  intelli 
gence  from  nation  to  nation,  and  to  spread  information 
throughout  the  Confederacy,  as  in  summoning  coun 
cils  upon  public  exigencies,  trained  runners  were  em 
ployed.  But  three  days  were  necessary,  it  is  said,  to 
convey  intelligence  from  Buffalo  to  Albany.  Swiftness 
of  foot  was  an  acquirement,  among  the  Iroquois,  which 
brought  the  individual  into  high  repute.  A  trained 
runner  would  traverse  a  hundred  miles  per  day.  With 

1  "The  eloquent  speech,  of  which  the  above  is  an  extract,  was  an 
unpremeditated  effort  of  Dr.  Peter  Wilson  (Wa-o-wo-wa-no-onk),  an 
educated  chief,  and  was  delivered  at  the  May,  i  847,  meeting  of  the  New 
York  Historical  Sociery,  at  which  he  chanced  to  be  present.  The  sub 
stance  of  the  present  chapter  and  of  Chapter  II.  of  Book  I.  of  this  work 
being  a  paper  entitled  «  On  the  Territorial  Limits,  Geographical  Names, 
and  Trails  of  the  Iroquois,'  had  just  been  read  before  the  society,  when 
under  the  impulse  of  the  moment  this  chief  accepted  an  invitation  to 
address  the  meeting.  He  spoke  with  such  pathos  and  earnestness  upon 
his  people  and  race  —  their  ancient  prowess  and  generosity  — their  present 
weakness  and  dependence — and  especially  upon  the  hard  fate  of  a  small 
band  of  Senecas  and  Cayugas,  which  had  recently  been  hurried  into  the 
western  wilderness  to  perish,  that  all  present  were  deeply  moved  by  his 
eloquence.  He  produced  a  strong  sensation." 

105 


LEAGUE    OF    THE   IRO^UOIS 

relays,  which  were  sometimes  resorted  to,  the  length 
of  the  day's  journey  could  be  considerably  increased. 
It  is  said  that  the  runners  of  Montezuma  conveyed  in 
telligence  to  him  of  the  movements  of  Cortes,  at  the 
rate  of  two  hundred  miles  per  day  ;  but  this  must  be 
regarded  as  extravagant.  During  the  last  war,  a  run 
ner  left  Tonawanda  at  daylight  in  the  summer  season, 
for  Avon,  a  distance  of  forty  miles  upon  the  trail.  He 
delivered  his  message,  and  reached  Tonawanda  again 
about  noon.  In  the  night  their  runners  were  guided 
by  the  stars,  from  which  they  learned  to  keep  their 
direction,  and  regain  it,  if  perchance  they  lost  their 
way.  During  the  fall  and  winter,  they  determined  their 
course  by  the  Pleiades,  or  Seven  Stars.  This  group  in 
the  neck  of  Taurus,  they  called  Got-gwar'-dar.  In  the 
spring  and  summer  they  ran  by  another  group,  which 
they  named  Gwe-o-ga-ah,  or  the  Loon,  four  stars  at  the 
angles  of  a  rhombus.  In  preparing  to  carry  messages 
they  denuded  themselves  entirely,  with  the  exception 
of  the  Ga-ka-ah)  or  breech  cloth,  and  a  belt.  They  were 
usually  sent  out  in  pairs,  and  took  their  way  through 
the  forest,  one  behind  the  other,  in  perfect  silence. 

Upon  the  map  accompanying  the  first  volume  of 
this  work,  the  trails  which  have  been  traced  will  be 
found. (42)  Also  the  names  in  the  several  dialects  of  the 
Iroquois,  of  the  lakes,  rivers,  and  creeks  ;  of  the  Indian 
villages,  and  ancient  localities,  known  to  our  immediate 
predecessors  ;  and  the  names  of  our  own  cities  and 
villages,  which  have  been  christened  as  they  appeared.1 

i  In  Appendix  A,  I,  will  be  found  a  schedule  containing  all  the 
names  upon  the  Map,  with  the  signification  of  each,  arranged  under  their 
respective  counties. 

1 06 


SUPERIORITT    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

This   map  is   newly   designed,   to   exhibit  the   Home 
Country  of  the  Ho-de-no-sau-nee. 

The  Iroquois  were  the  master  spirits  of  the  north. 
Fortunate  in  their  geographical  position,  and  powerful 
from  the  concentration  of  their  strength  through  the 
League,  the  lesser  tribes  scattered  over  these  vast  ter 
ritories  could  offer  but  slight  obstruction  to  their  com 
bined  attack.  Large  masses,  like  the  Sioux  of  the 
west,  or  the  Cherokees  of  the  south,  were  alone  able 
to  withstand  their  valor,  or  resist  their  invasions.  In 
comparison  with  other  Indian  nations,  the  Iroquois 
might  well  exult  in  the  superiority  of  their  institutions  ; 
and  felicitate  themselves  upon  the  high  destiny  which 
seemed  to  await  the  full  development  of  their  civil 
institutions.(40) 


107 


Chapter    IV 


Future  Destiny  of  the  Indian  —  His  Reclamation  —  Schools  of  the 
Missionaries  —  The  Christian  Party  —  Schools  of  the  State  — 
Future  Citizenship  —  Their  Indebtedness  to  Missionaries  —  Rights 
of  Property  —  Injustice  of  Neglect  —  System  of  Superintendence 
—  Duty  of  the  American  People  —  The  Indian  Department 

THE  future  destiny  of  the  Indian  upon  this  con 
tinent,  is  a  subject  of  no  ordinary  interest. 
If  the  fact,  that  he  cannot  be  saved  in  his 
native  state,  needed  any  proof  beyond  the  experience  of 
the  past,  it  could  be  demonstrated  from  the  nature  of 
things.  Our  primitive  inhabitants  are  environed  with 
civilized  life,  the  baleful  and  disastrous  influence  of 
which,  when  brought  in  contact  with  Indian  life,  is 
wholly  irresistible.  Civilization  is  aggressive,  as  well 
as  progressive  —  a  positive  state  of  society,  attacking 
every  obstacle,  overwhelming  every  lesser  agency,  and 
searching  out  and  filling  up  every  crevice,  both  in  the 
moral  and  physical  world;  while  Indian  life  is  an  un 
armed  condition,  a  negative  state,  without  inherent 
vitality,  and  without  powers  of  resistance.  The  insti 
tutions  of  the  red  man  fix  him  to  the  soil  with  a  fragile 
and  precarious  tenure  ;  while  those  of  civilized  man,  in 
his  highest  estate,  enable  him  to  seize  it  with  a  grasp 
which  defies  displacement.  To  uproot  a  race  at  the 
meridian  of  its  intellectual  power,  is  next  to  impossible  ; 
but  the  expulsion  of  a  contiguous  one,  in  a  state  of 

108 


FUTURE  DESTINT  OF  THE  INDIAN 

primitive  rudeness,  is  comparatively  easy,  if  not  an  ab 
solute  necessity. 

The  manifest  destiny  of  the  Indian,  if  left  to  him 
self,  calls  up  the  question  of  his  reclamation,  certainly, 
in  itself,  a  more  interesting  and  far  more  important 
subject  than  any  which  have  before  been  considered. 
All  the  Indian  races  now  dwelling  within  the  Republic 
have  fallen  under  its  jurisdiction  ;  thus  casting  upon 
the  government  a  vast  responsibility,  as  the  adminis 
trator  of  their  affairs,  and  a  solemn  trust,  as  the  guar 
dian  of  their  future  welfare.  Should  the  system  of 
tutelage  and  supervision,  adopted  by  the  national 
government,  find  its  highest  aim  and  ultimate  object 
in  the  adjustment  of  their  present  difficulties  from  day 
to  day ;  or  should  it  look  beyond  and  above  these 
temporary  considerations,  towards  their  final  elevation 
to  the  rights  and  privileges  of  American  citizens  ? 
This  is  certainly  a  grave  question,  and  if  the  latter 
enterprise  itself  be  feasible,  it  should  be  prosecuted 
with  a  zeal  and  energy  as  earnest  and  untiring  as 
its  importance  demands.  During  the  period  within 
which  this  question  will  be  solved,  the  American 
people  cannot  remain  indifferent  and  passive  specta 
tors,  and  avoid  responsibility  ;  for  while  the  govern 
ment  is  chiefly  accountable  for  the  administration  of 
their  civil  affairs,  those  of  a  moral  and  religious  char 
acter,  which,  at  least,  are  not  less  important,  appeal 
to  the  enlightened  benevolence  of  the  public  at  large. 

Whether  a  portion  of  the  Indian  family  may  yet 
be  reclaimed  and  civilized,  and  thus  saved  eventually 
from  the  fate  which  has  already  befallen  so  many  of 
our  aboriginal  races,  will  furnish  the  theme  of  a  few 

109 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

^X*j 

concluding  reflections.  What  is  true  of  the  Iroquois, 
in  a  general  sense,  can  be  predicated  of  any  other  por 
tion  of  our  primitive  inhabitants.  For  this  reason  the 
facts  relied  upon  to  establish  the  hypothesis  that  the 
Indian  can  be  permanently  reclaimed  and  civilized, 
will  be  drawn  exclusively  from  the  social  history  of 
the  former. 

There  are  now  about  four  thousand  Iroquois  living 
in  the  state  of  New  York.  Having  for  many  years 
been  surrounded  by  civilization,  and  shut  in  from  all 
intercourse  with  the  ruder  tribes  of  the  wilderness, 
they  have  not  only  lost  their  native  fierceness,  but 
have  become  quite  tractable  and  humane.  In  addition 
to  this,  the  agricultural  pursuits  into  which  they  have 
gradually  become  initiated,  have  introduced  new 
modes  of  life,  and  awakened  new  aspirations,  until  a 
change,  in  itself  scarcely  perceptible  to  the  casual  ob 
server,  but  in  reality  very  great,  has  already  been 
accomplished.  At  the  present  moment  their  decline 
has  not  only  been  arrested,  but  they  are  actually  in 
creasing  in  numbers,(59)  and  improving  in  their  social 
condition.  The  proximate  cause  of  this  universal 
spectacle  is  to  be  found  in  their  feeble  attempts  at 
agriculture  ;  but  the  remote  and  the  true  one  is  to  be 
discovered  in  the  schools  of  the  missionaries. 

To  these  establishments  among  the  Iroquois,  from 
the  days  of  the  Jesuit  fathers  down  to  the  present 
time,  they  are  principally  indebted  for  all  the  progress 
they  have  made,  and  for  whatever  prospect  of  ultimate 
reclamation  their  condition  is  beginning  to  inspire. 
By  the  missionaries  they  were  taught  our  language, 
and  many  of  the  arts  of  husbandry  and  of  domestic 

no 


GA'YA-AH       OR     WORK  BAG 


SCHOOLS    OF    THE    MISSIONARIES 

life  ;.  from  them  they  received  the  Bible  and  the  pre 
cepts  of  Christianity.  After  the  lapse  of  so  many 
years,  the  fruits  of  their  toil  and  devotion  are  becom 
ing  constantly  more  apparent :  as,  through  years  of 
slow  and  almost  imperceptible  progress,  they  have 
gradually  emancipated  themselves  from  much  of  the 
rudeness  of  Indian  life.  The  Jroquois  of  the  present 
day  is,  in  his  social  condition,  elevated  far  above  the 
Iroquois  of  the  seventeenth  century.  This  fact  is 
sufficient  to  prove,  that  philanthropy  and  Christianity 
are  not  wasted  upon  the  Indian ;  and  further  than 
this,  that  the  Iroquois,  if  eventually  reclaimed,  must 
ascribe  their  preservation  to  the  persevering  and  de 
voted  efforts  of  those  missionaries,  who  labored  for 
their  welfare  when  they  were  injured  and  defrauded 
by  the  unscrupulous,  neglected  by  the  civil  authorities, 
and  oppressed  by  the  multitude  of  misfortunes  which 
accelerated  their  decline. 

There  are  but  two  means  of  rescuing  the  Indian 
from  his  impending  destiny  ;  and  these  are  education 
and  Christianity.  If  he  will  receive  into  his  mind  the 
light  of  knowledge  and  the  spirit  of  civilization,  he 
will  possess,  not  only  the  means  of  self-defence,  but 
the  power  with  which  to  emancipate  himself  from  the 
thraldom  in  which  he  is  held.  The  frequent  attempts 
which  have  been  made  to  educate  the  Indian,  and  the 
numerous  failures  in  which  these  attempts  have  even 
tuated,  have,  to  some  extent,  created  a  belief  in  the 
public  mind,  that  his  education  and  reclamation  are 
both  impossible.  This  enterprise  may  still,  perhaps, 
be  considered  an  experiment,  and  of  uncertain  issue ; 
but  experience  has  not  yet  shown  that  it  is  hopeless. 


in 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    I  R  O      U  O  I  S 


There  is  now,  in  each  Indian  community  in  the 
State,  a  large  and  respectable  class  who  have  become 
habitual  cultivators  of  the  soil  ;  many  of  whom  have 
adopted  our  mode  of  life,  have  become  members  of 
the  missionary  churches,  speak  our  language,  and  are 
in  every  respect  discreet  and  sensible  men.  In  this 
particular  class  there  is  a  strong  desire  for  the  adop 
tion  of  the  customs  of  civilized  life,  and  more  especially 
for  the  education  of  their  children,  upon  which  subject 
they  often  express  the  strongest  solicitude.  Among 
the  youth  who  are  brought  up  under  such  influences, 
there  exists  the  same  desire  for  knowledge,  and  the 
same  readiness  to  improve  educational  advantages. 
Out  of  this  class  Indian  youth  may  be  selected  for  a 
higher  education,  with  every  prospect  of  success, 
since  to  a  better  preparation  for  superior  advantages, 
there  is  superadded  a  stronger  security  against  a 
relapse  into  Indian  life.  In  the  attempted  education 
of  their  young  men,  the  prime  difficulty  has  been  to 
render  their  attainments  permanent,  and  useful  to 
themselves.  To  draw  an  untutored  Indian  from  his 
forest  home,  and,  when  carefully  educated,  to  dismiss 
him  again  to  the  wilderness,  a  solitary  scholar,  would 
be  an  idle  experiment  ;  because  his  attainments 
would  not  only  be  unappreciated  by  his  former  asso 
ciates,  but  he  would  incur  the  hazard  of  being  de 
spised  because  of  them.  The  education  of  the  Indian 
youth  should  be  general,  and  chiefly  in  schools  at 
home. 

A  new  order  of  things  has  recently  become  appar 
ent  among  the  Iroquois,  which  is  favorable  to  a  more 
general  education  at  home  and  to  a  higher  cultivation 

112 


THE    CHRISTIAN    PARTY 

in  particular  instances.  The  schools  of  the  mission 
aries,  established  as  they  have  been,  and  are,  in  the 
heart  of  our  Indian  communities,  have  reached  the 
people  directly,  and  laid  the  only  true  and  solid 
foundation  of  their  permanent  improvement.  They 
have  created  a  new  society  in  the  midst  of  them, 
founded  upon  Christianity ;  thereby  awakening  new 
desires,  creating  new  habits,  and  arousing  new  aspira 
tions.  In  fact  they  have  gathered  together  the  better 
elements  of  Indian  society,  and  quickened  them  with 
the  light  of  religion  and  of  knowledge.  A  class  has 
thus  been  gradually  formed,  which  if  encouraged  and 
strengthened,  will  eventually  draw  over  to  itself  that 
portion  of  our  Indian  population  which  is  susceptible 
of  improvement  and  elevation,  and  willing  to  make 
the  attempt.  Under  the  fostering  care  of  the  govern 
ment,  both  state  and  national,  and  under  the  still 
more  efficient  tutelage  of  religious  societies,  great 
hopes  may  be  justly  entertained  of  the  ultimate  and 

permanent  civilization  of  this  portion  of  the  Iroquoia* 

It  is,  indeed,  a  great  undertaking  to  work  off  the 
Indian  temper  of  mind,  and  infuse  that  of  another 
race.  It  is  necessary,  to  its  accomplishment,  to  com 
mence  in  infancy,  and  at  the  missionary  school,  where 
our  language  is  substituted  for  the  Indian  language, 
our  religion  for  the  Indian  mythology,  and  our  amuse 
ments  and  mode  of  life  for  theirs.  When  this  has 
been  effected,  and  upon  a  mind  thus  prepared  has 
been  shed  the  light  of  a  higher  knowledge,  there  is 
not  even  then  a  firm  assurance  that  the  Indian  nature 
is  forever  subdued  and  submerged  in  that  superior  one 
which  civilization  creates.  In  the  depths  of  Indian 

"3 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

society  there  is  a  spirit  and  a  sentiment  to  which  their 
minds  are  attuned  by  nature ;  and  great  must  be  the 
power,  and  constant  the  influence  which  can  overcome 
the  one,  or  eradicate  the  other. 

In  the  education  of  the  Iroquois,  New  York  has 
recently  made  a  commencement.  Prior  to  1846  our 
Indian  youth  were  excluded  from  the  benefits  of  the 
common  school  fund;  their  want  of  preparation  for 
such  schools,  furnishing,  to  some  extent,  a  sufficient 
reason.  At  that  time  schools  were  first  opened  among 
them  under  appropriations  from  the  public  fund. 
These  schools  have  not  met  with  encouraging  suc 
cess  ;  but  their  efficiency  would  have  been  much 
greater  if  they  had  been  organized  upon  the  boarding- 
school  or  missionary  plan,  instead  of  that  of  the  com 
mon  school.  The  former  is  the  more  practicable  and 
successful  system  of  Indian  education;  and  it  is 
greatly  to  be  hoped  that  it  will  soon  be  adopted.  To 
meet  the  growing  demand  for  a  higher  education,  the 
State  Normal  School,  within  the  past  year,  has  not 
only  been  opened  to  a  limited  number  of  Indian 
youth,  but  a  sufficient  appropriation  made  for  their 
maintenance  while  improving  its  advantages.  These 
two  important  events  form  an  interesting  era  with  the 
modern  Iroquois.  It  remains  only  to  give  them  per 
manent  boarding-schools  at  home  for  the  instruction 
of  the  mass  of  their  youth,  with  access  to  the  Normal 
School  for  their  advanced  scholars,  and  in  a  few  years 
they  will  rise  in  the  scale  of  intelligence,  as  far  above 
their  present  level,  as  their  fathers  raised  themselves, 
in  the  days  of  aboriginal  sovereignty,  above  the  level 
of  cotemporary  nations. 

114 


^^^^i^^M^^M 


COT-CWEN-DA  OR    POCKETBOOK 


SCHOOLS    OF    THE    STATE 

In  addition  to  the  special  claim  which  the  residue 
of  the  Iroquois  have  upon  the  people  of  the  State, 
every  principle  of  philanthropy  pleads  for  the  en 
couragement  of  their  young  men  in  their  efforts  to 
obtain  a  higher  course  of  instruction  than  the  lim 
ited  earnings  of  Indian  husbandry  can  afford.  The 
time  has  come,  in  their  social  progress,  when  they 
are  capable  of  a  thorough  intellectual  training,  and 
are  able  to  achieve  as  high  and  accurate  a  scholar 
ship  as  many  of  their  white  competitors.  The  time 
has  also  arrived  when  academical  attainments  will 
prove  a  blessing  to  themselves  and  to  their  fami 
lies.  By  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  among  them 
the  way  will  be  facilitated  for  the  introduction  of 
the  mechanic  arts,  and  for  their  improvement  in  ag 
ricultural  pursuits.  A  small  band  of  educated  young 
men  in  each  Indian  community  would  find  sufficient 
employment  for  their  acquired  capacities,  in  the  va 
rious  stations  of  teacher,  physician,  mechanic,  and  far 
mer  ;  in  each  and  all  of  which  they  would  greatly 
promote  the  general  welfare.  If  the  desire  for  im 
provement,  which  now  prevails  among  them,  is  met 
and  encouraged,  it  will  require  but  a  few  years  to 
initiate  them  into  the  arts  of  civilized  life,  and  to  pre 
pare  them  eventually  for  exercising  those  rights  of 
property,  and  rights  of  citizenship,  which  are  common 
to  ourselves.  How  much  more  noble  for  the  State 
to  reclaim  and  save  this  interesting  and  peculiar 
portion  of  her  people,  than  to  accelerate  their  ex 
tinction  by  injustice ;  or  to  abandon  them  to  their 
fate,  when  they  are  struggling  to  emancipate  them 
selves  by  taking  into  their  hands  the  implements  of 

"5 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

agriculture,  and  opening  their  minds  to  the  light  of 
knowledge. 

There  is  no  want  of  sympathy  for  their  welfare 
among  the  people  of  New  York  ;  on  the  contrary, 
there  is  a  wide-spread  and  deep-seated  interest  in  their 
future  reclamation.  Whatever  can  be  done  to  ame 
liorate  their  condition,  and  encourage  that  portion  who 
have  commenced  the  work  of  their  own  improvement, 
would  receive  the  warmest  commendation.  If  the 
Indian  puts  forth  his  hand  for  knowledge,  he  asks 
for  the  only  blessing  which  we  can  give  him  in  ex 
change  for  his  birthright,  which  is  worthy  of  his 
acceptance. 

The  education  and  christianization  of  the  Iroquois 
is  a  subject  of  too  much  importance,  in  a  civil  aspect, 
to  be  left  exclusively  to  the  limited  and  fluctuating 
means  of  religious  societies.  The  schools  established 
and  sustained  among  them  by  private  benevolence, 
are,  to  the  Indian,  almost  the  same  as  common 
schools  to  our  own  people ;  and  without  them  the 
Indian  would,  in  times  past,  have  been  denied  all 
means  of  instruction.  These  schools  bring  together 
the  youth  for  elementary  tuition,  as  a  necessary  prep 
aration  for  moral  and  religious  training.  While 
there,  they  adopt,  in  all  respects,  the  habits  of  civil 
ized  life,  are  taught  our  language,  and  the  more 
simple  elementary  studies.  In  so  far,  it  would  be 
but  a  just  act  of  public  beneficence  to  allow  those 
pupils  to  draw  the  same  share  of  public  money  which 
falls  to  the  other  children  of  the  State.  A  system  of 
public  Indian  education,  upon  such  a  plan  as  their 
circumstances  demand,  should  either  be  adopted  by 

Tl6 


THEIR   INDEBTEDNESS   TO   MISSIONARIES 

the  State  ;  or  a  portion  of  the  public  money,  bearing 
some  proportion  to  the  number  of  Indian  pupils, 
should  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  local  mission 
ary,  to  be  expended  with  an  equal  portion  contrib 
uted  by  private  benevolence,  or  by  the  Indians 
themselves.  It  is  time  that  our  Indian  youth  were 
regarded,  in  all  respects,  as  a  part  of  the  children 
of  the  State,  and  brought  under  such  a  system  of 
tutelage  as  that  relation  would  impose. 

The  vast  extent  of  the  religious  enterprises  of  the 
present  day  has  tended  to  draw  the  attention  of  the 
Christian  world  away  from  the  Indian,  into  fields 
more  distant,  and  perhaps  more  attractive.  During 
the  past  sixty  years,  the  Iroquois  have  received  but 
a  small  share  of  the  Christian  watchfulness  to  which 
their  wants  entitled  them.  Faithful  and  zealous 
missionaries,  it  is  true,  have  labored  among  them, 
producing  results  far  greater  than  is  generally  be 
lieved  ;  but  the  inadequate  scale  upon  which  these 
missions  were  organized,  and  the  fluctuations,  in  their 
efficiency,  which  were  inseparable  from  their  irregu 
lar  and  limited  supplies,  have  prevented  them  from 
carrying  forward  their  work  to  its  full  completion. 
But  whatever  has  been  done,  is  chiefly  to  be  ascribed 
to  them,  and  to  the  denominations  which  they 
represent. 

Too  much  cannot  be  said  of  the  teachableness  of 
the  Indian,  and  of  his  aptitude  to  learn,  when  sub 
jected  to  systematic  discipline.  If  the  same  means 
and  the  same  influences  which  are  employed  to  edu 
cate  and  elevate  the  mass  of  our  own  people,  and 
without  the  constant  application  of  which,  they  them- 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IROQUOIS 

selves  would  soon  fall  into  ignorance,  were  brought 
to  bear  upon  our  Indian  population,  they  would  rise 
under  it  with  a  rapidity  which  would  excite  both  sur 
prise  and  admiration.  Instances  are  not  wanting, 
among  the  present  Iroquois,  of  attainments  in  scholar 
ship  which  would  do  credit  to  any  student.  To  give 
employment  to  those  Indian  youth  whose  acquired 
capacities  would  enable  them  to  nil  stations  of  trust 
and  profit  among  ourselves,  is  another  species  of  en 
couragement  which  commends  itself  to  the  generous 
mind.  Both  in  our  civil  and  social  relations  with 
the  red  men,  we  regard  them  as  a  distinct  and  sepa 
rate  class  ;  when  in  each  of  these  relations  they  should 
not  only  be  regarded  as  our  fellow-men,  but  as  a  part 
of  our  own  people.  Born  upon  the  soil,  the  descend 
ants  of  its  ancient  proprietors,  there  is  no  principle 
which  should  make  them  aliens  in  the  land  of  their 
nativity,  or  exclude  them  from  any  of  those  advan 
tages  which  are  reserved  to  ourselves.  So  far  as  they 
are  able  to  appreciate  and  enjoy  the  same  privileges 
which  pertain  to  the  mass  of  the  people,  the  claim 
for  participation  which  their  situation  silently  puts 
forth  should  not  be  disregarded. 

The  lands  of  the  Iroquois  are  still  held  in  common, 
the  title  being  vested  in  the  people.  Their  progress 
towards  a  higher  agricultural  life  has  rendered  this 
ancient  tenure  a  source  of  inconvenience ;  although 
they  are  not  as  yet  prepared  for  their  division  among 
the  people.  Each  individual  can  improve  and  enclose 
any  portion  of  their  common  domain,  and  sell  or  re 
tain  such  improvements,  in  the  same  manner  as  with 
personal  property  ;  but  they  have  no  power  to  transfer 

118 


GA-SWA-HOS-HA  OR  BABY  FRAME  BELT, 


RIGHTS    OF    PROPERTY 

the  title  to  the  land  to  each  other,  or  to  strangers. (101) 
As  early  as  the  reign  of  James  the  Second,  the  right 
of  purchasing  Indian  lands  was  made  a  government 
right  exclusively,  by  royal  proclamation,  and  it  proved 
such  a  necessary  shield  against  the  rapacity  of  specu 
lators,  that  this  humane  provision  is  still  retained  as 
a  law  in  all  the  States  of  the  Union,  and  by  the 
national  government.  When  the  Iroquois  reach  such 
a  stable  position,  as  agriculturists,  as  to  make  it  safe 
to  divide  their  lands  among  the  several  families  of 
each  nation,  with  the  power  of  alienation,  it  will  give 
to  them  that  stimulus  and  ambition  which  separate 
rights  of  property  are  so  well  calculated  to  produce. 
The  present  system  has  at  least  the  merit  of  saving 
all  the  people  from  poverty  and  vagrancy,  if  it  does 
not  enable  a  portion  of  them  to  become  thrifty  and 
substantial  agriculturists.  The  first  step  towards  the 
amelioration  of  their  condition  in  this  particular, 
would  be  a  division  among  themselves,  with  the 
power  of  alienation  to  each  other,  under  such  re 
strictions  as  would  be  adapted  to  the  case.  This 
would  serve  to  prepare  the  way  for  other  changes, 
.until  finally  they  could  be  restored,  with  safety  to 
themselves,  not  only  to  the  full  possession  of  those 
rights  of  property  which  are  common  to  ourselves, 
but  also  to  the  rights  and  privileges  of  citizens  of 
the  State.  When  this  time  arrives,  they  will  cease 
to  be  Indians,  except  in  name/12 

The  progressive  elevation  of  our  Indian  popula 
tion,  here  indicated,  if  carried  to  a  successful  result, 
would  save  but  a  portion  of  the  Indian  family  ;  but 
that  portion  would  become,  in  every  respect,  as  use- 

119 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IKO^UOIS 

ful  and  respectable  as  any  other  portion  of  our  people. 
They  would  neither  be  wanting  in  ability,  nor  morality, 
nor  public  spirit ;  and  perhaps  it  is  not  too  much  to 
conjecture,  that  specimens  of  the  highest  genius,  and 
of  the  most  conspicuous  talent,  hereafter  destined 
to  figure  in  the  civil  history  of  our  Republic,  may 
spring  from  the  ranks  of  the  Indian  citizens. (r>0> 

On  the  other  hand,  if  they  are  left,  unencouraged 
and  unassisted,  to  struggle  against  their  adverse 
destiny — or,  more  fatal  still,  if  they  are  subjected  to 
a  false  and  unjust  system  of  superintendence,  the 
whole  Indian  family  will  ere  long  fade  away,  and 
finally  become  enshrouded  in  the  same  regretful 
sepulchre  in  which  the  races  of  New  England  lie 
entombed. 

The  present  system  of  national  supervision  is  evi 
dently  temporary  in  its  plans  and  purposes,  and 
designed  for  the  administration  of  our  Indian  affairs 
with  the  least  possible  inconvenience,  rather  than  for 
their  ultimate  reclamation,  to  be  followed  by  the  be- 
stowment  of  citizenship.  It  carries,  upon  all  its 
features,  the  impression,  that  the  presence  of  the 
Indian  upon  this  continent  is  temporary  ;  and  that, 
he  must  inevitably  surrender  the  remainder  of  his 
possessions,  when  he  shall  have  become  surrounded 
by  the  white  man,  and  the  summons  be  sent  in  for 
the  customary  capitulation.  The  sentiment  which 
this  system  proclaims  is  not  as  emphatic  as  that 
emblazoned  upon  the  Roman  policy  towards  the 
Carthaginians  —  Carthago  est  delenda^  —  "  Carthage 
must  be  destroyed  : "  but  it  reads  in  not  less  signifi 
cant  characters  —  The  destiny  of  the  Indian  is  exter- 


120 


STSTEM    OF    SUPERINTENDENCE 

mination.  This  sentiment,  which  is  so  wide-spread 
as  to  have  become  a  general  theme  for  school-boy 
declamation,  is  not  only  founded  upon  erroneous 
views,  but  it  has  been  prejudicial  to  the  Indian 
himself.  If,  then,  public  opinion  and  the  national 
policy  are  both  wrong  upon  these  great  questions, 
or  if  there  are  even  strong  grounds  for  suspecting 
them  to  be  so,  it  becomes  an  act  of  justice,  as  well  as 
of  duty,  to  correct  the  one,  and  change  the  other. 
Our  Indian  relations,  from  the  foundation  of  the 
Republic  to  the  present  moment,  have  been  adminis 
tered  with  reference  to  the  ultimate  advantage  of 
the  government  itself;  while  the  reclamation  of  the 
Indian  has  been  a  secondary  object,  if  it  ever  entered 
into  the  calculation  in  the  slightest  degeee.  Millions 
of  money,  it  is  true,  have  been  expended,  and  some 
show  of  justice  preserved  in  their  complicated  affairs; 
but  in  all  prominent  negotiations  the  profit  has  been 
on  the  side  of  the  government,  and  the  loss  on  that  of 
the  Indian.  In  addition  to  this,  instances  of  sharp- 
sighted  diplomacy,  of  ungenerous  coercion,  and  of 
grievous  injustice,  are  to  be  found  in  the  journal  of 
our  Indian  transactions  —  a  perpetual  stigma  upon 
the  escutcheon  of  our  Republic.  If  references  are 
demanded  to  the  paragraphs,  the  reader  may  turn  to 
that  upon  the  Seminoles,  or  to  the  Georgia  Cherokee 
treaty,  executed  by  the  government,  or  to  the  more 
recent  treaties  with  the  Iroquois  themselves,  in  which 
the  government  bartered  away  its  integrity,  to  min 
ister  to  the  rapacious  demands  of  the  Ogden  Land 
Company.14'  ^ 

Jefferson    made    the    civilization    of  the    Indian   a 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

subject  of  profound  consideration,  and  a  favorite  ele 
ment  of  the  national  policy  during  his  administration. 
Washington,  at  a  still  earlier  period,  regarded  the 
future  welfare  of  the  Indian  with  deep  solicitude.  In 
founding  the  first  system  of  intercourse  and  superin 
tendence,  he  was  guided  by  the  most  enlightened 
principles  of  justice  and  benevolence;  and  to  such  a 
degree  were  the  Iroquois,  in  particular,  impressed  with 
the  goodness  and  beneficence  of  his  character,  that 
they  not  only  bestowed  upon  him,  in  common  with 
other  Indian  nations,  the  appellation  of  father,  but 
to  this  day  he  is  known  among  them  as  "  the  Great 
American."  The  aggressive  spirit  of  the  people,  how 
ever,  in  connection  with  the  slight  estimation  in  which 
Indian  rights  were  held,  has  ever  been  found  too 
powerful  an  element  to  be  stayed.  It  has  had  free 
course  during  the  last  sixty  years,  until  the  whole 
territory  east  of  the  Mississippi,  with  inconsiderable 
exceptions,  has  been  swept  from  the  Indian.  This  fact 
renders  any  argument  superfluous,  to  show  that  within 
this  period  the  reclamation  and  preservation  of  the 
red  man  has  formed  no  part  of  the  public  policy. 

But  with  the  same  period  the  moral  elements  of 
society  have  been  developed  and  strengthened  to  such 
a  degree  as  to  work  a  change  in  public  sentiment.  A 
kindlier  feeling  towards  the  Indian  is  everywhere  ap 
parent,  joined  with  an  unwillingness  to  allow  him  to  be 
urged  into  further  extremities.  He  has  been  suffi 
ciently  the  victim  of  adverse  fortune,  to  be  entitled  to 
a  double  portion  of  the  interest  and  assistance  of  the 
philanthropist ;  and  a  new  day,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  has 
already  dawned  upon  his  prospects. 


122 


DUTT    OF    THE    AMERICAN    PEOPLE 

It  cannot  be  forgotten,  that  in  after  years  our 
Republic  must  render  an  account,  to  the  civilized 
world,  for  the  disposal  which  it  makes  of  the  Indian. 
It  is  not  sufficient,  before  this  tribunal,  to  plead  inevit 
able  destiny  ;  but  it  must  be  shown  affirmatively,  that 
no  principles  of  justice  were  violated,  no  efforts  were 
left  untried  to  rescue  them  from  their  perilous  position. 
After  all  has  been  accomplished  which  the  utmost 
efforts  of  philanthropy,  and  the  fullest  dictates  of 
wisdom  can  suggest,  there  will  still  be  sufficient  to 
lament,  in  the  unpropitious  fate  of  the  larger  portion 
of  the  Indian  family.  It  is  the  great  office  of  the 
American  people,  first,  to  shield  them  against  future 
aggression,  and  then  to  mature  such  a  system  of  super 
vision  and  tutelage,  as  will  ultimately  raise  them  from 
the  rudeness  of  Indian  life,  and  prepare  them  for  the 
enjoyment  of  those  rights  and  privileges  which  are 
common  to  ourselves.(128) 

To  the  Indian  Department  of  the  national  govern 
ment,  the  wardship  of  the  whole  Indian  family  is,  in  a 
great  measure,  committed  ;  thus  placing  it  in  a  position 
of  high  responsibility.  If  any  discrimination  could  be 
made  between  the  several  departments  of  the  govern 
ment,  this  should  be  guided  by  the  most  enlightened 
justice,  the  most  considerate  philanthropy.  Great  is 
the  trust  reposed,  for  it  involves  the  character  of  the 
white  race,  and  the  existence  of  the  red.  May  it  ever 
be  quickened  to  duty  by  a  vivid  impression  of  its 
responsibilities,  and  never  violate,  for  any  consider 
ation,  the  sacred  trust  committed  to  its  charge. 

The  profoundly  truthful  sentiment  of  Cicero, 
"  without  the  highest  justice  a  republic  cannot  be 

123 


LEAGUE    OF    THE    IRO^UOIS 

governed,"  furnishes  a  text  eminently  worthy  of 
being  studied  in  this  connection.  It  would  form  an 
apt  inscription,  to  be  written  over  the  doorway  of 
the  Indian  Department  — 

"  Sine  summa  justitia  Rempublicam  regi  non  posse.'1 


124 


Appendix    A 


Appendix   A 


I 


SCHEDULE    EXPLANATORY    OF    THE    INDIAN 

MAP1 

VOWEL  MARKS. 

a  sounded  as  in  far.  6   sounded  as  in  met. 

a  sounded  as  in  at.  i    sounded  as  in  pine. 

a  sounded  as  in  fall.  5  sounded  as  in  tone. 

HO'-DE'-NO-SAU-NEE'-GA, 

TERRITORIES  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE  LONG  HOUSE. 

Ga-nea-ga-o-no'-ga,  Territory  of  the  Mohawks. 

O-na'-yote-ka-o-no'-ga,  Territory  of  the  Oneidas. 

O-nun'da-ga-o-no'-ga,  Territory  of  the  Onondagas. 

Gwe-u'-gweh-o-no'-ga,  Territory  of  the  Cayugas. 

Nun-da'-  wa-o-no'-ga,  Territory  of  the  Senecas. 

Dus-ga'-o-weh-o-no'-ga,  Territory  of  the  Tuscaroras. 

NUN-DA'-WA-O-NO'-GA, 

OR  THE  TERRITORY  OF  THE  SENECAS. 

Seneca  Dialect. 
CHAUTAUQUA  COUNTY. 

ENGLISH    NAME.  INDIAN    NAME.  SIGNIFICATION. 

TA      i  •  i  (  Running  through  the  hem- 

Dunkirk,  Ga-na'-da-wa-o, 

locks. 


Fetid  banks. 

Silver  Creek,  Ga-a-nun-da'-ta,  G.  A  mountain  levelled  down. 

1  Where  the  Map  and  this  Schedule  are  at  variance,  the  latter  must  govern. 

a  Ga-hun'-da  and  Te-car-ne-o-di'  are  common  nouns,  signifying,  the  former,  "a 
river"  or  "creek,"  and  the  latter,  "a  lake."  They  are  always  affixed  by  the  Iro- 
quois,  in  speaking,  to  the  name  itself. 

127 


APPENDIX    A 


INDIAN     NAME. 


ENGLISH    NAME. 

Chautauqua  Creek,  Ga'-no-wun-go,  G. 

Conewango  River,  Ga'-no-wun-go,  G. 

Canadawa  Creek,  Ga-na'-da-wa-o,  G. 


SIGNIFICATION. 


In  the  rapids. 
In  the  rapids. 

Running  through  the  hem 
locks. 


Cassadaga  Creek, 

Gus-da'-go,  G. 

Under  the  rocks. 

Cassadaga  Lake, 

C  Gus-da'-go,       Te-car- 
\       ne-o-di',* 

>  Under  the  rocks. 

Chautauqua  Lake, 

Cha-da'-queh,  T. 

Place  where  one  was  lost. 

Cattaraugus, 

Ga'-da-ges'-ga-o, 

Fetid  banks. 

CATTARAUGUS  COUNTY. 

Allegany  River, 

O-hee'-yo,  G. 

The  beautiful  river. 

Great  Valley  Creek 

,     O-da'-squa'-dos-sa,  G. 

Around  the  stone. 

Little  Valley  Creek,     O-da'-squa'-wa-teh',  G. 

(  Small  stone  beside  a  large 
(      one. 

Oil  Creek, 

Te-car'-nohs,  G. 

Dropping  oil. 

Ischuna  Creek, 

He'-soh,  G. 

Floating  nettles. 

Oswaya  Creek, 

O-so'-a-yeh,  G. 

Pine  forest. 

Burton  Creek, 

Je'-ga-sa-nek,  G. 

Name  of  an  Indian. 

Lime  Lake, 

Te-car'-no-wun-do,  T. 

Lime  Lake. 

Ellicottville, 

De-as'-hen-da-qua, 

Place  for  holding  courts. 

Burton, 

Je'-ga-sa-neh, 

Name  of  an  Indian. 

Olean, 

He'-soh, 

Same  as  Ischuna  Creek. 

Hasket  Creek. 

O-so'-a-went-ha,  G. 

By  the  pines. 

INDIAN  VILLAGES. 

Allegany  Village, 

De-o'-na-ga-no, 

Cold  spring. 

Allegany  Village, 

Jo'-ne-a-dih, 

Beyond  the  great  bend. 

Oil  Spring  Village, 

Te-car'-nohs, 

Dropping  oil. 

Bend  Village, 

Da'-u-de-hok-to, 

At  the  bend. 

Trail  of  the  Eries, 

(  Ga-qua'-ga-o-no, 
(  Wa-a'-gwen-ne-yuh. 

ERIE  COUNTY. 

Two  Sisters  Creek, 

Te-car'-na-ga-ge,  G. 

Black  waters. 

Caugwaga  Creek, 

Ga'-gwa-ga,  G. 

Creek  of  the  Cat  Nation. 

Smokes  Creek, 

Da-de-o'-da-na-suk'-to,G.    Bend  in  the  shore. 

Cazenovia  Creek, 

Ga-a'-nun-deh-ta,  G. 

A  mountain  flattened  down. 

Buffalo  Creek, 

Do'-sho-weh,  G. 

Splitting  the  fork. 

Cayuga  Creek, 

Ga-da'-geh,  G. 

Through  the  oak  openings. 

1   See  note  2,  p.  127. 

128 

SCHEDULE    OF    MAP 


ENGLISH    NAME. 

Ellicott  Creek, 
Grand  Island, 
Eighteen  Mile,  Creek, 
Murder  Creek, 
Lake  Erie, 
Buffalo, 
Black  Rock, 
Williamsville, 
Clarence  Hollow, 

Akron, 
Lancaster, 


INDIAN    NAME. 


Ga-da'-o-ya-deh,  G. 
Ga-weh'-no-geh,(45) 
Ta-nun'-no-ga-o,  G. 
De'-on-gote,  G. 
Do'-sho-weh,  T. 
Do'-sho-weh, 
De-o'-steh-ga-a, 
Ga-sko'-sa-da-ne-o, 
Ta-nun'-no-ga-o, 

De'-on-gote, 
Ga-squen'-da-geh, 


SIGNIFICATION. 

Level  heavens. 

On  the  island. 

Full  of  hickory  bark. 

Place  of  hearing. 

Same  as  Buffalo  Creek. 

SamjB  as  Buffalo  Creek. 

A  rocky  shore. 

Many  falls. 

Full  of  hickory  bark. 
(  Place  of  hearing     ( neuter 
\      gender). 

Place  of  the  lizard. 


INDIAN  VILLAGES. 


Red  Jacket  Village,     Te-kise'-da-ne-yout, 
Falls  Village,  Ga-sko'-sa-da, 

Cattaraugus  Village,    Ga-da'-ges-ga-o, 
Carrying  Place  Vil-  )  Gwa>_u_gweh, 
lage,  i 

GENESEE  AND  WYOMING 
Tonawanda  Creek,     Ta'-na-wun-da,  G. 
Aliens  Creek,  O'-at-ka,  G. 


Black  Creek, 

Stafford, 

Batavia, 

Oakfield, 

Alabama, 

Caryville, 

Pine  Hill, 

Attica, 


Alexander, 
Wyoming, 
Pembroke, 

LeRoy,  j 

Darien, 

Silver  Lake, 

Silver  Lake  Outlets, 

Caneadea  Creek, 

Warsaw, 

VOL.  II.  —9 


Ja'-go-o-geh,  G. 

Ya'-go-o-geh, 

Deo-on'-go-wa, 

Te-car'-da-na-duk, 

Ga'-swa-dak, 

Gau'-dak, 

Te-ca'-so-a-a, 

Gweh'-ta-a-ne-te-car'- 

nun-do-deh, 
Da-o'-sa-no-geh, 
Te-car'-ese-ta-ne-ont , 
O-a'-geh, 
Te-car'-no-wun-na-d'a' 

ne-o, 

O-so'-ont-geh, 
Ga-na'-yat,  T. 
Ga-na'-yat,  G. 
Ga-o'-ya-de-o,  G. 
Chi'-nose-heh-geh, 
129 


Place  of  the  bell. 
The  falls. 

Same  as  Cattaraugus  Creek. 
Place  of  taking  our  boats, 
or  portage. 

COUNTIES. 

Swift  water. 

The  opening. 

Place  of  hearing.     (This  is 

feminine.} 
Place  of  hearing. 
The  great  hearing  place. 
Place  of  many  trenches. 
By  the  cedar  swamp. 
By  the  plains. 
Pine  lying  up. 


I  The  red  village. 


Place  without  a  name. 
Place  with  a  sign-post. 
On  the  road. 


[  Many  rapids. 


Place  of  turkeys. 
Signification  lost. 
Signification  lost. 
Same  as  Caneadea. 
On  the  side  of  the  valley 


APPENDIX   A 


ENGLISH    NAME. 


INDIAN  VILLAGES. 

INDIAN    NAME. 


SIGNIFICATION. 


Tonawanda  Village,   Ta'-na-wun-da,  Swift  water. 

Gardow,  Ga-da'-o,  Bank  in  front. 

ALLEGANY  COUNTY. 


Genesee  River, 

Gen-nis'-he-yo,  G. 

The  beautiful  valley. 

Wiskoy  Creek, 

O-wa-is'-ki,  G. 

Under  the  banks. 

Black  Creek, 

Ja-go'-yo-geh,  G. 

Hearing  place. 

Angelica, 

Ga-ne-o'-weh-ga-yat, 

Head  of  the  stream. 

Caneadea, 

•3  Ga-o'-ya-de-o, 

(  Where    the    heavens     lean 
(.      against  the  earth. 

Caneadea, 

•j  Ga-o'-ya-de-o,  G. 

f  Where     the    heavens     rest 
(      upon  the  earth. 

Nunda, 

Nun-da'-o, 

Hilly. 

Wiskoy, 

O-wa-is'-ki, 

Under  the  banks. 

INDIAN  VILLAGES. 

O-wa-is-ki, 

O-wa-is'-ki, 

Under  the  banks. 

Caneadea, 

Ga-o'-ya-de-o, 

^  Where    the    heavens    lean 
(      against  the  earth. 

LIVINGSTON  COUNTY. 

Caneseraga  Creek, 

Ga-nus',  ga-go,  G. 

Among  the  milkweed. 

Conesus  Lake, 

Ga-ne-a'-sos,  T. 

Place  of  nanny-berries. 

Conesus  Outlet, 

Ga-ne-a'-sos,.  G. 

Place  of  nanny-berries. 

Hemlock  Lake, 

O-neh'-da,  T. 

The  hemlock. 

Hemlock  Outlet, 

O-neh'-da,  G. 

The  hemlock. 

Geneseo, 

O-ha'-di, 

Trees  burned. 

Mount  Morris, 

So-no'-jo-wau-ga, 

(  Big  kettle.     (Residence  of 
(.      a  Seneca  Chief.) 

Dansville, 

Ga-nus'-ga-go, 

Among  the  milkweed. 

Livonia, 

De-o'-de-sote, 

The  spring. 

Lima, 

Ska-hase'-ga-o, 

Once  a  long  creek. 

Avon, 

Ga-no'-wau-ges, 

Fetid  waters. 

Caledonia, 

De-o'-na-gi-no, 

Cold  water. 

Moscow, 

Ga-nah'-da-on-tweh, 

(  Where        hemlock        was 

|      spilled. 

INDIAN  VILLAGES. 

Squakie  Hill, 

Da-yo'-it-ga-o, 

<"  Where  the  river  issues  from 
]         ,  i       u  *n 

(       the  hills. 

Site  of  Moscow, 

Ga-neh'-da-on-tweh, 

^  Where        hemlock        was 

(       spilled. 

13° 

SCHEDULE    OF    MAP 


ENGLISH    NAME.  INDIAN    NAME. 

Little  Beard's  Town,  De-o-nun'-da-ga-a, 

Big  Tree  Village,  Gii-un-do'-wa-na, 

Tuscarora  Village,  O-ha'-gi, 

Ganowauges,  Ga-no'-wau-ges, 

Site  of  Dansville,  Ga-nus'-ga-go, 

Near  Livonia,  De-o'-de-sote, 

Site  of  Mt.  Morris,  So-no'-jo-wau-ga, 


SIGNIFICATION. 

Where  the  hill  is  near. 
A  big  tree. 
Crowding  the  bank. 
Fetid  waters. 
Among  the  milkweed. 
The  Spring. 
Big  kettle. 


MONROE  COUNTY. 


Irondequoit  Bay, 
Salmon  Creek, 
Sandy  Creek, 
Honeoye  Outlet, 
Rochester, 

Brockport, 
Scottsville, 
Honeoye  Falls, 

Ontario  Trail, 

Indian     Village     at 
the  Bend, 


N  e-o'-da-on-da-n  u  at , 
Ga'-doke-na,  G. 
O-neh'-chi-geh,  G. 
Ha'-ne-a-yeh,  G. 
Ga'-sko-sa-go, 
Gweh'-ta-a-ne-te-car- 
nun-do'-teh, 

O'-at-ka, 

Sko'-sa-is-to, 

Ne-a'-ga    Wa-a-gwen- 
ne-y-u, 


A  bay. 

Place  of  minnows. 
Long  ago. 
Finger  lying. 
At  the  falls. 

|  Red  Village. 

(  The    opening.      (Same   as 
\      Allen's  Creek.) 
Falls   rebounding   from    an 
obstruction. 


>  Da-yo'-de-hok-to, 

LEANS  AND  NIAG 
Oak  Orchard  Creek,    Da-ge-a'-no-gai-unt,  G.  j 


Ontario  foot  path. 
A  bended  creek. 


ORLEANS  AND  NIAGARA  COUNTIES. 

Two     sticks 


Johnson's  Creek, 
1 8  mile  Creek, 

Tuscarora  Creek, 
East  Branch, 

Tuscarora  Creek, 
West  Branch, 

Albion, 


A-jo'-yok-ta,  G. 
$  Date-ge-a'-de-ha-na- 
i      geh,  G. 

>•  Te-car'-na-ga-ge,  G. 


coming    to- 
Fishing  Creek. 
Two  creeks  near  together. 

Black  Creek. 


|  De-yo'-wuh-yeh,  G.         Among  the  reeds. 

C  Place    where     boats     were 
De-o'-wun-dake-no, 


Medina, 

Date-geh'-ho-seh, 

Middleport, 

Te-ka'-on-do-duk, 

Lockport, 

De-o'-do-sote, 

One  stream  crossing  anoth- 
(Aqueduct    on    the 


f     ne  strea 
<      er.     ( 
(.      canal.) 


Place  with  a  sign-post. 
(  The    Spring    (referring    to 
j      the  Cold  Spring). 


APPENDIX    A 


ENGLISH    NAME. 

Royalton  Centre, 
Lewiston, 

Youngstown, 

Golden  Creek, 

Niagara  River, 
Lake  Ontario, 


INDIAN    NAME. 


SIGNIFICATION. 


O-ge-a'-wa-te-ka'-e, 
Ga'-a-no-geh, 

Ne-ah'-ga, 

Hate-keh'-neet-ga-on- 
da,  G. 

Ne-ah'-ga,  G.(«) 
Ne-ah'-ga,  T. 


The  word  Ontario,      Ska-no'-da-ri-o,  T. 

Niagara  Falls,  Date-car'-sko-sase, 

Niagara  Village,  Date-car'-sko-sase, 

Tuscarora      Indian  ) 

Village,  ^Ga-a-no-geh, 

Seneca  Indian  Village,  Ga-u'-gweh, 


Place  of  the  butternut. 

On  the  mountains, 
f  Supposed  from  O-ne-ah,    a 
(      neck. 

(.  Signification  lost. 

Same  as  Youngtown. 

Same  as  Youngtown. 
/  The      "beautiful     lake." 
\       (This  is  a  Mohawk  word 
\      and    Ontario  is  a  deriva- 
(.       tive.) 

The  highest  falls. 

The  highest  falls. 

On  the  mountains. 

(  Taking  canoe  out.  (Car- 
-<  rying  place  at  the  mouth 
(  of  Tonawanda  Creek.) 


Mud  Creek, 
Flint  Creek, 


WAYNE  AND  ONTARIO  COUNTIES. 

Same  as  Palmyra. 


Ga'-na-gweh,  G. 
Ah-ta'-gweh-da-ga,  G. 


Canandaigua,  Ga'-nun-da-gwa, 

Canandaigua  Outlet,     Ga'-nun-da-gwa,  G. 


Canandaigua  Lake,       Ga'-nun-da-gwa,  T. 

Hemlock  Outlet,          O-neh'-da,  G. 
Honeoye  Lake, 
Skaneatice  Lake, 


Ha'-ne-a-yeh,  T. 
Ska'-ne-a-dice,  T. 


Sodus  Bay, 
Little  Sodus  Bay, 

Palmyra, 

Geneva, 
Seneca  Lake, 
West  Bloomfield, 
Victor, 

Naples, 


Seo-dose'.      (Seneca.) 
Date-ke-a'-o-shote, 

Ga'-na-gweh, 

Ga-nun'-da-sa-ga, 
Ga-nun'-da-sa-ga,  T. 
Ga-nun'-da-ok, 
Ga-o'-sa-ga-o, 
Nun'-da-wa-o, 

132 


A  place  selected  for  a  set 
tlement. 

A  place  selected  for  a  set 
tlement. 

A  place  selected  for  a  set 
tlement. 

Hemlock. 

Finger  lying. 

Long  Lake. 

Ah-slo-dose,  (Oneida.)  Sig 
nification  lost. 

Two  baby  frames.  (From 
Ga-ose'-ha,  a  baby  frame.) 

A  village  suddenly  sprung 
up. 

New  settlement  village. 

New  settlement  village. 

Village  on  the  top  of  a  hill. 

In  the  basswood  country. 

Great  hill. 


SCHEDULE    OF    MAP 


ENGLISH    NAME. 

Near  Geneva, 
Canandaigua, 

Victor, 

Near  Naples, 


INDIAN  VILLAGES. 

INDIAN    NAME. 


SIGNIFICATION. 


Ga-nun'-da-sa-ga,(45/ 
Ga'-nun-da-gwa, 

Ga-o'-sa-ga-o, 
Nun'-da-wa-o, 


New  settlement  village. 
Place  selected  for  a  settle 
ment. 

In  the  basswood  country. 
Great  hill. 


Crooked  Lake, 


YATES,   STEUBEN,   AND  CHEMUNG  COUNTIES. 

C  Promontory  projecting  into 


O-go'-ya-ga,  T. 


Crooked  Lake  Outlet,  O-go'-ya-ga,  G, 

Conhocton  River,         Ga-ha'-to,  G. 

Chemung  River, 

Canisteo  River, 

Bath, 

Painted  Post, 

Elmira, 


Ga-ha'-to,  G.(«) 
Te-car'-nase-te-o,  G. 
Do-na'-ta-gwen-da, 
Te-car'-nase-te-o-ah, 
Skwe'-do-wa,(45) 


)       the  lake. 

(  Promontory  projecting  into 

I      the  lake. 

A  log  in  the  water. 

A  log  in  the  water. 

Board  on  the  water. 

Opening  in  an  opening. 

A  board  sign. 

Great  plain. 


GWE-U'-GWEH-O-NO'-GA, 

OR  THE  TERRITORY  OF  THE  CAYUGAS. 

(PARTLY  CAYUGA  AND  PARTLY  SENECA.) 


Tioga  Point, 
Ithaca, 

Ta-yo'-ga, 
Ne-o-dak'-he-at, 

Cayuga  Lake, 

Gwe-u'-gweh,  T. 

Aurora, 
Canoga, 
Cayuga  Bridge, 
Montezuma, 
Rowland's  Island, 
Waterloo, 

De-a-wen'-dote, 
Ga-no'-geh, 
\Vas'-gwas, 
Te-car'-jik-ha'-do, 
Ga-weh'-no-wa-na, 
Skoi'-yase, 

Seneca  River, 

Swa'-geh,  G. 

Clyde  River, 

Auburn, 
Otter  Lake, 
Muskrat  Creek, 
Owasco  Outlet, 


Ga-na'-gweh,  G. 

Was'-co, 
Squa-yen'-na,  T. 
Squa-yen'-na,  G. 
De-a-go'-gii-ya,  G. 

133 


At  the  forks. 

At  the  head  of  the  lake. 
^  The    lake    at    the    mucky 
t       land. 

Constant  dawn. 

Oil  floating  on  the  water. 

A  long  bridge. 

Place  of  salt. 

Great  island. 

Place  of  whortleberries. 
j  Flowing  out.    (Some  doubt 
I      about  the  signification.) 
(  River  at  a  village  suddenly 
(.       sprung  up. 

Floating  bridge. 

A  great  way  up. 

A  great  way  up. 

Place  where  men  were  killed- 


APPENDIX    A 


ENGLISH    NAME. 


INDIAN    NAME. 


SIGNIFICATION 


Owasco  Lake,  Dwas'-co,  T.  Lake  at  the  floating  bridge. 

North  Sterling  Creek,  Dats-ka'-he,  G.  Hard  talking. 

Sodus  Bay  Creek,        Te-ga-hone'-sa-o'-ta,  G.  A  child  in  a  baby  frame. 


INDIAN   VILLAGES. 
Ga-no'-geh,  Oil  on  the  water. 

Promontory  running  out. 

Above    Lockwoods  )  ^  „     .  .     ..      ,  , 

y  Ga-ya'-ga-an  -ha,  Inclined  downwards. 

Cove,  ) 

Site  of  Ithaca,  Ne-o'-dak-he'-at,  At  the  end  of  the  lake. 


Site  of  Canoga, 

Site  of  Union  Springs,  Ge-wa'-ga, 


O-NUN'-DA-GA-O-NO'-GA, 

OR  THE  TERRITORY  OF  THE  ONONDAGAS. 

(ONONDAGA  DIALECT.) 

c  t  r>-          C  Ga'-wa-no-wa'-na-neh, 

Susquehanna  River,  J 

<       0*°)  G. 


Owego, 
Owego  Creek, 
Cortland, 

Homer, 
Owasco  Inlet, 


Ah-wa'-ga, 

Ah-wa'-ga,  G. 

O-nan'-no-gi-is'ka, 
(  Te-wis'-ta-no-ont-sa'- 
(       ne-a-ha, 

Ka'-na-ka'-ge,  G. 


Where  the  valley  widens. 
Where  the  valley  widens. 
Shagbark  hickory. 

Place  of  the  silver  smith. 
Black  water. 


Tionghinoga  River,     O-nan'-no-gi-is'-ka,  G.     Shagbark  hickory. 


Tully  Lake, 
Tully, 
Apulia, 

Skaneateles  Lake, 
Skaneateles, 

Otisco  Lake, 

Otisco, 

Otisco  Outlet, 

Lafayette, 

Pompey  Hill, 

Pompey, 

Oil  Creek, 

Onondaga  Creek, 


ONONDAGA   COUNTY. 


Te-ka'-ne-a-da'-he,  T. 
Te-ka'-ne-a-da'-he, 
O-nun'-o-gese, 
Skan-e-a'-dice,  T. 
Skan-e-a'-dice, 

Ga-ah'-na,  T. 

Ga-ah'-na, 
Ga-ah'-na,  G. 
Te-ka'-wis-to'-ta, 
De-o'-wy-un'-do, 
De-is'- wa-ga'-ha, 
De-o'-nake-har-e,  G. 
O-nun-da'-ga,  G. 


A  lake  on  a  hill. 

A  lake  on  a  hill. 

Long  hickory. 

Long  lake. 

Long  lake. 

f  Rising  to  the  surface,    and 
•I       again  sinking.       Legend 
(      of  a  drowning  man. 
do. 
do. 

Tinned  dome. 

Windmill. 

Place  of  many  ribs. 

Oily  water. 

On  the  hills. 


SCHEDULE    OF    MAP 


ENGLISH    NAME. 

Onondaga  West  Hill, 

Onondaga  Hollow, 

Marcellus, 

Nine  Mile  Creek, 

Camillus, 

Elbridge, 

Jordan  Creek, 
Jordan, 
Cross  Lake, 


INDIAN    NAME. 

Te-ga-che'-qua-ne-on'- 

Te-o-ha'-ha-hen'-wha, 

Us-te'-ka, 

Us-te'-ka,  G. 

O-ya'-han, 

Ka-no-wa'-ya, 

Ha-nan'-to,  G. 
Ha-nan'-to, 
U-neen'-do,  T. 


Fort  Brewerton,  Ga-do'-quat, 


Oneida  Outlet, 
Liverpool, 
Liverpool  Creek, 
Onondaga  Lake, 
Salina, 

She-u'-ka,  G. 
Ga-na-wa'-ya, 
Tun-da-da'-qua,  G. 
Ga-nun-ta'-ah,  T. 
Te-ga-j  ik-ha'-do, 

Syracuse, 

Na-ta'-dunk, 

Jamesville  Creek, 
Jamesville, 

Ga-sun'-to,  G. 
Ga-sun'-to, 

Limestone  Creek, 

De-a-o'-no-he,  G. 

Manlius, 

Fayetteville, 
Deep  Spring, 
South  Onondaga, 
Christian  Hollow, 


De-a-o'-no-he, 

Ga-che'-a-yo, 
De-o'-sa-da-ya'-ah, 
Swe-no'-ga, 
De-o'-nake-hus'-sink, 


limbs  on 
lying  on 
Signifi- 


SIGNIFICATION. 

ta,A  hammer  hanging. 

Turnpike  crossingthe  valley 

Bitternut  hickory. 

Bitternut  hickory. 

Apples  split  open. 

Skull  lying  on  a  shelf. 
(  Small    hemlock    limbs     on 
(       water. 
C  Small    hemlock 
|       water. 
C  Hemlock    tops 
(      water. 
(  (Oneida  Dialect. 
(       cation  lost.) 

(Lost.) 

A  great  swamp. 

Thrown  out. 

Material  for  council  fire. 

Place  of  salt. 

Pine  tree  broken  with  top 
hanging  down. 

Bark  in  the  water. 

Bark  in  the  water. 
(  Where  the  creek  suddenly 
(       rises. 

Where  the  creek  suddenly 
rises. 

Lobster. 

Deep  Basin  Spring. 

A  hollow. 

Never  clean. 


INDIAN   VILLAGES. 


Onondaga  Castle,         Ka-na-ta-go'-wa, 
4  Miles  East  of  Castle,  Tu-e-a-das'-so, 

Site    of    Onondaga  )  „,. 

V  Gis-twe-ah'-na, 
Hollow,  S 

i  Miles  South  of  On- )  xl 

C  Nan-ta-sa -sis, 
ondaga  Castle,      > 


Signification  lost. 
Hemlock  knot  in  the  water. 

A  little  man. 

Going  partly  round  a  hill. 


OSWEGO   AND  JEFFERSON  COUNTIES. 

Oswego,  Swa'-geh,  Flowing  out. 

New  Haven  Creek,      Ka-dis-ko'-na, 'G.  Long  marsh. 


APPENDIX    A 


ENGLISH    NAME. 


INDIAN    NAME. 


SIGNIFICATION. 


Little  Salmon  Creek,  Ga-nun-ta-sko'-na,  G.      Large  bark. 


Grindstone  Creek, 
Big  Salmon  Creek, 
Pulaski, 
Sandy  Creek, 

Grand  Island, 
Sackets  Harbor, 


He-ah-ha'-whe,  G.  Apples  in  crotch  of  tree. 

Ga-hen-wa'-ga,  G.  A  creek. 

Ga-hen-wa'-ga,  A  creek. 

Te-ka'-da-o-ga'-he,  G.     Sloping  banks. 

De-a'-wone-( 

da, 

(  Ga-hu'-a-go-je-twa-da-  )  Fort  at  the  mouth  of  Great 
}       a'-lote.  i       River. 


da-ga-han'-  7  „.      ...  , 

>  Signification  lost. 

>  6 


O-NA'-YOTE-KA-O-NO'-GA, 
OR  ONEIDA  TERRITORY. 

(ONEIDA    DIALECT.) 


St.  Lawrence  River, 

Ga-na-wa'-ga,  G. 

Black  Lake, 

Che'-gwa-ga,  T. 

Oswegatchie  River, 

O'-swa-gatch,  G. 

Ogdensburgh, 

O'-swa-gatch, 

Black  River, 

Ka-hu-ah'-go,  G. 

Watertown, 

Ka-hu-ah'-go,- 

Beaver  River, 

Ne-ha-sa'-ne,  G. 

Deer  Creek, 

Ga-ne'-ga-to'-do, 

Moose  River, 

Te-ka'-hun-di-an' 

Otter  Creek, 

D'a-ween'-net,  G. 

Indian  River, 

O-je'-quack,  G. 

The  rapid  river. 

In  the  hip. 

Signification  lost. 

Signification  lost. 

Great,  or  Wide  River. 

Great,  or  Wide  River. 
j  Crossing  on  a  stick  of  tim- 
I      ber. 

G.          Corn-pounder. 
do,*G.  Clearing  an  opening. 

The  Otter. 

Nut  River. 


Mohawk  River 
above  Herkimer, 
Rome, 
Fish  Creek, 
Wood  Creek, 
Oneida  Lake, 
Scribas  Creek, 
Bay  Creek, 
West  Canada  Creek 
and  Mohawk  River, 
Trenton  Village, 
Trenton  Falls, 
Utica, 


ONEIDA  COUNTY. 
Da-ya'-hoo-wa'-quat,  G.  Carrying  place. 


Da-ya'-hoo-wa'-quat, 
Ta-ga'-soke,  G. 
Ka-ne-go'-dick,  G. 
Ga-no'-a-lo'-hale,  T. 
Ga-sote'-na,  G. 


Carrying  place. 
Forked  like  a  spear. 
Signification  lost. 
A  head  on  a  pole. 
High  grass. 


Te-gua'-no-ta-go'-wa,  G.  Big  morass. 


j  Te-ah-o'-ge,  G. 

Ose'-te-a'-daque, 

Date-wa'-sunt-ha'-go, 

Nun-da-da'-sis, 

136 


At  the  forks. 

In  the  bone. 
Great  Falls. 
Around  the  hill. 


SCHEDULE    OF    MAP 


ENGLISH  NAME. 

Whitestown  Creek, 

Whitestown, 

Oriskany  Creek, 

Oriskany, 

Paris  Hill, 

Clinton, 

Sangerfield, 

Vernon, 

Vernon  Centre, 

Oneida  Creek, 

Verona, 

Nine  Mile  Creek, 

Camden, 

Oneida  Depot, 

New  Hartford, 


INDIAN    NAME. 


Che-ga-quat'-ka,  G. 

Che-ga-quat'-ka, 

Ole'-hisk,  G. 

Ole'-hisk, 

Ga-nun-do'-glee, 

Ka-da'-wis'-dag, 

Ska'-na-wis, 

Ska-nu'-sunk, 

Skun-an-do'-wa, 

Ga-no-a-lo'-hale,  G. 

Te-o-na'-tale, 

Te-ya-nun'-soke,  G. 

He-sta-yun'-twa, 

De-ose-la-ta'-gaat, 

Che-ga-quat'-ka, 


SIGNIFICATION. 

Kidneys. 

Kidneys. 

Nettles. 

Nettles. 

Hills  shrunk  together. 

White  field. 

A  long  swamp. 

Place  of  the  fox. 

Great  hemlock. 

Head  on  a  pole. 

Pine  forest. 

A  beech  tree  standing  up. 

Meaning  lost. 

Where  the  cars  go  fast. 

Kidneys. 


Oneida  Castle, 
Site  of  Camden, 
On  Fish  Creek, 


INDIAN  VILLAGES. 
Ga-no-a-lo'-hale,  Head  on  a  pole. 


Ho-sta-yun'-twa, 
Ta-ga'-soke,  G. 


Near  Oneida  Castle,    Ga-na'-doque, 


Meaning  lost. 
Forked  like  a  spear. 
Empty  village. 


MADISON  AND  CHENANGO  COUNTIES. 


Canestota, 

Ka-ne-to'-ta, 

Lenox, 

Ska-wais'-la, 

Caneseraga  Creek, 

Ka-na'-so-wa'-ga,  G. 

Chittenango  Creek, 

Chu-de-naang',  G. 

Chittenango, 

Chu-de-naang',  G. 

Cazenovia  Lake, 

Ah-wa'-gee,  T. 

Cazenovia, 

Ah-wa'-gee, 

Hamilton, 

Da-ude'-no-sa-gwa-nose, 

Unadilla  River, 

De-u-na'-di-lo,  G. 

Chenango  River, 

O-che-nang,  G. 

Sherburn, 

Ga-na'-da-dele, 

Norwich, 

Ga-na'-so-wa'-di, 

Oxford, 

So-de-ah'-lo-wa'-nake, 

Binghampton, 

O-che-nang', 

Stockbridge   Indian  i 
Village, 

>  Ah-gote'-sa-ga-nage, 

Pine  tree  standing  alone. 
A  point  made  by  bushes. 
Several  strings  of  beads  with 

a  string  lying  across. 
Where  the  sun  shines  out. 
Where  the  sun  shines  out. 
Perch  lake. 
Perch  lake. 
Round  house. 
Place  of  meeting. 
Bull  thistles. 
Steep  hill. 
Signification  lost. 
Thick-necked  giant. 
Bull  thistles. 

Meaning  lost. 


137 


APPENDIX  A 


GA-NE-A'-GA-O-NO'-GA, 

OR  MOHAWK  TERRITORY. 

(MOHAWK  DIALECT 

•) 

ENGLISH    NAME. 

INDIAN     NAME. 

SIGNIFICATION. 

West  Canada  Creek, 

Te-uge'-ga,  G. 

At  the  forks. 

Mohawk  River, 

Te-uge'-ga,  G. 

At  the  forks. 

Herkimer, 

Te-uge'-ga, 

At  the  forks. 

Little  Falls, 

Ta-la-que'-ga, 

Small  bushes. 

Fort  Plain, 

Twa-da-a-la-ha'-la, 

Fort  on  a  hill. 

Canajoharie  Creek, 

Ga-na-jo-hi'-e,  G. 

Washing  the  basin. 

Canajoharie, 

Ga-na-jo-hi'-e, 

Washing  the  basin. 

Johnstown, 

Ko-la-ne'-ka, 

Indian  superintendent. 

Fonda, 

Ga-na-wa'-da, 

On  the  rapids. 

Fort  Hunter, 

Te-on-da-lo'-ga, 

Two    streams    coming   to 
gether. 

Schoharie  Creek, 

Sko-har'-le,  G. 

Flood-wood. 

Schoharie, 

Sko-har'-le, 

Flood-wood. 

East  Canada  Creek, 

Te-car'-hu-har-lo'-da,  G. 

Visible  over  the  creek. 

Otsquago  Creek, 

O-squa'-go,  G. 

Under  the  bridge. 

Amsterdam  Creek, 

Ju-ta-la'-ga,  G. 

Signification  lost. 

Garoga  Creek, 

Ga-ro'-ga,  G. 

Signification  lost. 

Schenectady, 

O-no-a-la-gone'-na, 

In  the  head. 

Albany, 

Ska'-neh-ta'-de, 

Beyond  the  openings. 

Hudson  River, 

Ska'-neh-ta'-de,  G. 

River  beyond  the  openings. 

Cohoes  Falls, 

Ga'-ha-oose, 

Shipwrecked  canoe. 

Lake  Champlain, 

O-ne-a-da'-lote,  T. 

Signification  lost.    (Oneida 
dialect.) 

Ticonderoga, 

Je-hone-ta-lo'-ga, 

Noisy. 

Saratoga, 

S'har-la-to'-ga, 

Signification  lost. 

Lake  St.  Francis, 

Gii-na-sa-da'-ga,  T. 

Side  hill.  (Oneida  dialect.) 

Salmon  River, 

Gau-je'-ah-go-na'-ne,  G. 

Sturgeon  River. 

St.  Regis  River, 

Ah-qua-sos'-ne,  G. 

Partridges  drumming. 

St.  Regis, 

Ah-qua-sos'-ne, 

Partridges  drumming. 

Racket  River, 

Ta'-na-wa'-deh,  G. 

Swift  water. 

COUNTIES  SOUTH  OF  THE 

MOHAWK. 

Otsego  (45)  Lake, 

Ote-sa'-ga,  T. 

Signification  lost. 

Cooperstown, 

Ote-sa'-ga, 

Signification  lost. 

Delaware  River, 

Ska-hun-do'-wa,  G. 

In  the  plains. 

Cobus  Hill, 

As-ca-le'-ge, 

Meaning  lost. 

New  York, 

Ga-no'-no, 

Meaning  lost. 

138 

SCHEDULE    OF    MAP 


ENGLISH    NAME. 


INDIAN    NAMK. 


SIGNIFICATION. 

(  A    long    island.      (Oneida 
Long  Island,  Ga-wa-nase-geh,  j      dialect.) 

Atlantic  Ocean,  O-jik'-ha-da-ge'-ga,  Salt  water. 

INDIAN  VILLAGES. 
Upper  Mohawk  Castle,  Ga-ne'-ga-ha'-ga,  Possessor  of  the  flint. 


Middle       Mohawk    )  Gs_na_jo_hi, 

Castle,  >  < 


-'  Washing  the  basin. 


Lower        Mohawk   ?  Xe-ah'-ton-ta-1-'  -~       ^  Two   streams    coming  to- 


Castle, 


Quebec, 
Montreal, 
Kingston, 
Welland  River, 
Grand  River, 

Burlington  Bay, 

Queenstown, 

Hamilton, 

Toronto, 

Brock's  Monument. 
Chippeway, 


i-lo'-ga,     | 


gether. 


CANADA. 

Ke-a-done-da-a'-ga, 
Do-te-av-ga,(45) 
Ga-dai-o'-que, 
Jo-no'-dok,  G. 
Swa'-geh,  G. 

De-o-na'-sa-de'-o,  (45) 

Do-che'-ha-o', 

De-o-na'-sa-de'-o, 

De'-on-do, 

Gus-ta'-ote, 
Jo-no'-dak, 


Two  forts  contiguous. 

Almost  broken. 

Fort  in  the  water. 

Signification  lost. 

Flowing  out. 

(  Where    the    sand   forms   a 
I      bar. 

C  Where  the   mountain    dies 
(       in  the  river. 

See  above. 

(  Log     floating     upon     the 
(       water. 

Signification  lost. 


PENNSYLVANIA. 


Erie,  Gus-ha'-wa-ga,  On  the  body. 

Cornplanter's  Village, De-o-no'-sa-da-ga,  Burned  houses. 


139 


APPENDIX  A 


II 

Table    exhibiting,   in    the    Seneca    dialect,    the    conjugation    of  the 
Verb,    Ge'-yase,    "I  shoot." 

ACTIVE    VOICE. 

INDICATIVE    MOOD. 

Present  Tense.  —  Shoot,  or  am  shooting. 


Singular. 

Dual. 

Plural. 

2. 
3- 

Ge'yase, 
Sne'-yase, 
Hii'-yase, 

i  . 

2. 

3- 

• 

Och-ne'-yase, 
Sne'-yase, 
Ne'-yase, 

2. 

3- 

Ah-gwa'-yase. 
Swa'-yase. 
H'a-ne'-yase. 

Imperfect. 

—  Did  shoot,  or 

*was  shooting. 

j  . 

2 

3- 

Ge'-yase-qua 
Se'-yase-qua, 
Ha'-yase-qua 

,               I- 

2. 

i               3- 

Ne'-yase-qua, 
Sne'-yase-qua, 
Ne'-yase-qua, 

2. 

3- 

Dwa'-yase-qua. 

Swa-yase-qua. 
Ha-ne'-yase-qua. 

Perfect.  —  Shot,  have  shot 

,  or  did 

shoot. 

i. 

2. 

3- 

Ah-ge'-ya-go,               i. 
Sa-ya'-go,                       2. 
Ho-ya'-go,                     3. 

Unc-ne'-ya-go, 
Sne'-ya-go, 
Ho-ne'-ya-go, 

i. 

2. 

3- 

Ung-gwa'-ya-go. 
Swa-ya'-go. 
Ho-ne'-ya-go. 

Pluperfect. —  Had  shot. 

1.  Che-wa'-ge-ya-go,        i.  Che-unlc'-ne-ya-go,      i.  Che-yung'-gwa-ya-go. 

2.  Che-sa'-ya-go,  2.  Che-sne'-ya-go,  2.  Che-swa-ya-go. 

3.  Che-o'-ya-go,  3.  Che-o'-ne-ya-go,          3.  Che-o'-ne-ya-go. 

Future. —  Shall,  or  will  shoot. 

1.  Eh-ge'-yake,  i.  Och-nex-yake-heh,        i    Eh-ya'-gwa-yake. 

2.  Se-yake'-heh,  2.  Eh-sne'-yake,  2.  Eh-swa'-yake. 

3.  Ha'-yake-heh,  3.  Eh-ne'-yiike,  3.  Eh-ne'-yake. 

140 


SENECA    VERE 

SUBJUNCTIVE    MOOD. 

Present  Tense.  —  May,  or  can  shoot. 
Singular.  Dual.  Plural. 

1.  Eh-ge'-yake-ge'-seh,    i.  Eh-ne'-yake-ge'-seh,    i.  Eh-dwa'-yake-ge'-seh. 

2.  Eh-se'-yake-ge'-seh,     2.  Eh-sne'-yake-ge'-seh,  2.  Eh-swa'-yake-ge'-seh. 

3.  Ha-o'-yuke-ge'-seh,     3.  Eh-ne'-yake-ge'-seh,    3.  Eh-ne'-yake-ge'-seh. 

Imperfect.  —  Might,  could,  or  would  shoot. 

1.  Ah-ge'-yake,  i.  I-ne'-yake,  i.  I-dwa-yake. 

2.  Ah-se'-yike,  2.  l-sne'-yake,  2.  I-swa'-yake. 

3.  Ah-ah'-yake,  3.  Ah-ne'-yake,  3.  Ah-an-ne'-ya'ke. 

Perfect.  —  May  have  shot. 

1.  Ah-wa'-ge'-ya-go-ge'-  i  .  Ah-yunk-ne'-yii-go-     I.  Ah-yung-gwav-ya-go- 

seh,  ge'-seh,  ge'-seh. 

2.  I-sav-ya-go-ge-seh,       2.  I-sne'-ya-go-ge'-seh,     2.  I-swa-ya-go-ge'-seh. 

3.  Ah-o'-ya-go-ge'-seh,    3.  Ah-o'-ne-ya-go-ge'-     3.  Ah-o'-ne-yai-go-ge'- 

seh,  seh. 

Pluperfect  wanting. 
Future.  —  Shall  have  shot. 

1.  Ah-wa-ge'-ya-go,         i.  Ah-yunk'-ne-ya-go,     i.  Ah-yung-guav-ya-go. 

2.  I-sav-ya-go,  2.  I-sne'-ya-go,  2.  I-swa'-ya-go. 

3.  Ah-o'-ya-go,  3.  Ah-o'-ne-ya-go,  3.  Ah-o'-ne-ya-go. 

IMPERATIVE    MOOD. 


2.  Je'-yake,  Shoot  thou.    2.  Sne'-yakejS/roo/^/^o.  2.  Swa'-yake,  Shoot  ye. 

3.  Ha'-yake,     Let    him   3.  Ne'-yake,    Let    them     3.  Hii-ne'-yake,  Let  them 

shoot.  t<wo  shoot.  shoot. 

INFINITIVE    MOOD    WANTING. 
PARTICIPLES     WANTING. 

PASSIVE     VOICE. 

INDICATIVE    MOOD. 

Present  Tense.  —  Am  shot. 
Singular.  Plural. 

1.  Ung-ge'-y'a-go,  i.  Unc-ke'-ya-go. 

2.  A-sa'-ya-go,  2.  A-che'-ya-go. 

3.  Ho-wa-ya-go,  3.  Ho-wen-ne'-ya-go. 

141 


APPENDIX  A 

Dual. —  Same  as  Plural. 

Imperfect. —  Was  shot. 
Singular.  Plural. 

1.  Ung-ge'-ya-go'-no,  i.  Unc-ke'-ya-go'-no. 

2.  Sa-ya'-go-no,  2.  A-che'-ya-go'-no. 

3.  Ho-wuh'-ya-go'-no,  3.  O-wen'-ne-ya'-go-no. 

Perfect. — Have  been  shot.  — Same  as  Imperfect. 

Pluperfect  wanting. 

Future. —  Shall,  or  vjill  be  shot. 

1.  Eh-yung'-ge-yake,  i.  Eh-yunk'-ke-yake. 

2.  Eh-ya'-sa-yake,  2.  Eh-ya'-che-yake. 

3.  A-on'-wuh-yake,  3.  A-on'-wen-ne-yake. 

SUBJUNCTIVE    MOOD. 

Present  Tense.  —  May  be  shot. 

1.  Eh-yung'-ge-yake-ge'-seh,  i.  Eh-yunk'-ke-yake-ge'-seh. 

2.  Eh-ya'-sa-yake-ge'-seh,  2.  Eh-ya'-che-yake-ge'-seh. 

3.  A-o-wuh'-yake-ge'-seh,  3.  A-o-wen-ne'-yake-ge'-seh. 

Imperfect  wanting. 

Perfect. —  May  have  been  shot. 

1 .  Ah-yun-ge'-ya-gon-no-ge'-seh,        i .  Ah-yunk-ke'-ya-gon-no-ge'-seru 

2.  Ah-ya-sa-ya-gon-no-ge'-seh,  2.  Ah-ya-che'-ya-gon-no-ge'-seh. 

3.  Ah-o-wuh'-ya-gon-no-ge'-seh,         3.  Ah-o-wen-ne'-ya-go-no-ge'-seh. 

Pluperfect. — Might,  could,  would ?  or  should  have  been  shot. 

1.  Ah-yung-ge'-ya-go'-no-na-geh,       i.  Ah-yunk-ke'-ya-go-no-na-geh. 

2.  Ah-ya-sa-ya'-go-no-na-geh,  2.  Ah-ya-che'-ya-go-no-na-geh. 

3.  Ah-o-wuh-ya-go-no-na-geh,  3.  Ah-o-wen-ne'-ya-no-na-geh. 

Future.  —  Shall  have  been  shot. 

1.  Ah-yung-ge'-ya-go-no,  i.  Ah-yunk-ke'-ya-go-no. 

2.  Ah-ya-sa'-ya-go-no,  2.  Ah-yii-che'-ya-go-no. 

3.  Ah-o-wuh'-ya-go-no,  3.  Ah-o-wen-ne'-ya-go-no. 

IMPERATIVE    MOOD. 

2.  Ah-sa'-yake,  Be  thou  shot.  2.  A-che'-yake,  Be  ye  shot. 

}.  Ho-wuh'-yake,  Let  him  be  shot.      3.  Ho-wen-ne'-yake,  Let  them  be  shot. 

INFINITIVE    MOOD    WANTING. 

PARTICIPLES    WANTING. 

142 


Appendix    B 


Appendix   B 

INTRODUCTION 

IT  is  not  a  century  since  almost  all  of  our  present 
national  domain  was  in  the  possession  of  the  red 
men.  Four  centuries  ago,  when  white  men  first 
came  to  these  shores,  the  red  race  occupied  both  con 
tinents  of  the  Western  Hemisphere  throughout  their 
entire  extent.  Nowhere  else  has  a  single  race  been 
found  in  possession  of  so  vast  and  so  independent 
a  domain.  Unto  what  form  and  degree  of  civilization 
these  men  would  have  attained  if  permitted  to  work 
out  their  own  destinies  can  only  be  conjectured,  for 
within  a  very  short  time  after  the  discovery,  as  the 
history  of  races  is  counted,  their  culture  was  entirely 
submerged  by  the  influx  of  European  arts  and  institu 
tions.  When  our  ancestors  found  them,  however, 
the  Indians,  lacking  domestic  animals  and  the  knowl 
edge  of  iron,  were  in  a  lower  stage  of  culture  than 
their  contemporaries  of  Europe.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  suppose  that  this  tardiness  in  progress  was  due  to 
mental  inferiority.  It  was  quite  as  probably  due  to 
an  environment  less  favorable  than  that  in  which  the 
nations  of  Europe  had  been  developed.  Through 
this  same  lower  stage,  however,  the  peoples  of  Europe 
had  lately  passed.  Lubbock  has  pointed  out  that 
between  different  peoples  in  the  same  stage  of  devel 
opment  stronger  resemblances  are  to  be  found  than 

VOL.  II.  —  10  145 


APPENDIX    B 

exist  in  a  single  people  at  different  stages  of  its  prog- 
resSo  The  study  of  Indian  arts,  institutions,  and  so 
ciety  has  for  us,  therefore,  something  of  the  same 
interest  that  we  feel  in  visiting  the  hill  country  of 
New  England  or  the  meadows  of  Holland,  where  our 
own  youth  or  that  of  our  fathers  was  spent. 

Both  in  avowed  romance  and  in  more  serious 
works,  the  Indian  has  often  been  presented  to  us  as  a 
being  evolved  from  the  inner  consciousness  and  the 
preconceptions  of  the  writer,  and  the  individual  thus 
created  has  been  submitted  to  the  judgment  of  Euro 
pean  standards.  Morgan,  in  his  thorough  and  candid 
way,  sought  to  know  and  to  describe  the  Indian  as  he 
was.  To  discover  the  conditions  of  the  red  man's 
life,  and  the  laws  of  his  civil  and  domestic  institutions, 
and  to  judge  the  law  by  its  adaptation  to  the  condi 
tions,  and  the  man  by  his  obedience  to  the  law,  was 
the  task  which  Morgan  set  himself.  In  this  work  he 
laid  the  foundation  of  a  new  science.  The  study  of 
primitive  man,  which  in  the  year  1851,  when  this 
book  was  written,  was  hardly  more  than  a  collecting 
of  curious  and  isolated  facts,  became  in  his  hands  a 
key  with  which  to  unlock  dim  and  forgotten  secrets 
of  the  history  of  mankind. 

In  the  half-century  that  has  since  passed,  the  stand 
point  from  which  we  view  the  universe  and  man  has 
been  entirely  changed.  We  are  now  aware  that  the 
structure  of  our  civilization  rests  on  foundations  sunk 
deep  into  the  soil  of  barbarism  and  the  subsoil  of 
savagery,  and  that  our  history  has  been  borne  forward 
on  the  deeds  of  the  red  men  of  the  new  world  as  well 
as  those  of  the  white  men  of  the  old  world.  Darwin 

146 


INTRODUCTION 

and  his  successors  have  taught  us  that  if  we  would 
know  the  life  that  is  in  us  we  must  follow  it  from  its 
beginnings  in  the  cell  and  the  embryo.  Morgan  and 
others  have  shown  that  we  understand  our  law  and 
our  social  institutions  only  when  we  know  the  early 
society  in  which  they  were  shaped.  They  have  also 
demonstrated  that  the  culture  of  our  remote  fore 
fathers  is  reproduced  and  preserved  for  us  among  the 
barbarians  of  North  America.  Parkman  has  made  to 
live  before  us  the  story  of  the  contest  for  the  dominion 
of  the  continent  in  which  these  barbarians  took  so 
active  a  part.  It  is  difficult,  but  necessary,  for  us  to 
understand  that  mankind  does  not  consist  entirely 
of  Anglo-Saxons. 

Among  all  the  North  American  peoples,  there  is 
none  more  worthy  of  study,  by  reason  of  their  intel 
lectual  ability,  the  character  of  their  institutions,  and 
the  part  they  have  played  in  history,  than  the  Iroquois 
of  the  League.  And,  as  it  happens,  this  is  the  people 
which  has  longest  been  known  to  ourselves,  which  has 
been  most  closely  observed  by  our  writers  and  states 
men,  and  whose  influence  has  been  most  strongly 
felt  in  our  political  constitution  and  in  our  history  as 
colonies  and  nation.  The  noble  territory  which  they 
yet  occupy  with  us,  that  fertile  valley  of  central  New 
York,  which  is  the  natural  highway  from  the  ocean  to 
the  interior  of  the  continent,  was  the  seat  of  their  em 
pire,  whence  their  arms,  as  our  commerce,  moved  upon 
and  dominated  the  slopes  of  the  Atlantic  coast  and  the 
great  basins  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Mississippi. 

Through  their  early  and  constant  friendship  this 
imperial  territory  was  opened  to  our  Dutch  and 


APPENDIX    B 

English  forefathers.  By  the  Iroquois  and  their 
Algonquin  neighbors  were  made  known  the  riches  of 
American  agriculture,  including  that  most  productive 
and  wonderful  grain  which  the  red  men  had  tamed 
from  the  wilderness,  and  which  we  still  call  the  Indian 
corn.  In  their  ancient  League  the  Iroquois  presented 
to  us  the  type  of  a  Federal  Republic  under  whose 
roof  and  around  whose  council-fires  all  peoples  might 
dwelt  in  peace  and  freedom.  And  in  the  irrepressible 
conflict  between  French  autocracy  and  Teutonic  liberty 
for  the  dominion  of  North  America,  the  Iroquois  were 
our  firm  allies,  the  constant  protectors  of  our  infant 
colonies,  and  most  efficient  co-workers  in  the  final  vic 
tory.  Our  nation  gathers  its  people  from  many 
peoples  of  the  old  world,  its  language  and  its  free 
institutions  it  inherits  from  England,  its  civilization  and 
art  from  Greece  and  Rome,  its  religion  from  Judea,  — 
and  even  these  red  men  of  the  forest  have  wrought 
some  of  the  chief  stones  in  our  national  temple. 

That  we  now  perceive  the  interest  and  importance 
of  Iroquois  institutions  and  history  we  owe  chiefly  to 
the  writings  of  two  men.  In  the  year  1851  were  pub 
lished  The  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac^  by  Francis  Parkman, 
and  the  League  of  the  Iroquois  ^  by  Lewis  H.  Morgan, 
each  book  beginning  a  career  which  brought  to  its 
author  fame,  and  knowledge  to  mankind  From  The 
Conspiracy  of  Pontiac  was  developed  that  finest  monu 
ment  in  American  literature,  The  History  of  France  and 
England  in  North  America^  while  the  League  of  the 
Iroquois  was  the  beginning  of  the  modern  science  of 
ethnology.  Parkman's  histories  have  gained  and  hold 
the  wide  appreciation  that  they  deserve,  but  the  writings 

148 


INTRODUCTION 

of  Morgan,  less  inviting  to  the  general  reader,  are  to 
the  present  generation  comparatively  unknown,  and 
indeed  are  almost  inaccessible.  The  present  work,  in 
especial,  deserves  to  be  more  widely  known,  not  only 
for  the  great  interest  and  value  of  its  contents,  but 
also  because  of  its  position  in  the  history  of  science, 
because  of  its  relation  to  the  labor  and  development 
of  the  remarkable  mind  from  which  it  emanated,  and 
finally  because  of  its  place  as  one  of  the  masterpieces 
of  its  time  in  American  literature,  which  had  then 
hardly  progressed  beyond  a  sturdy  youth. 

In  preparing  the  present  edition,  I  have  been  im 
pressed  with  the  truth  suggested  in  Dr.  Shea's  intro 
duction  to  his  Charlevoix,  that  familiarity  with  the 
subject  does  not  lighten  the  work  of  an  editor.  It 
has  been  especially  difficult,  not  to  find  material,  but 
to  pass  by  material  of  the  greatest  value.  The  text 
here  presented  is  Morgan's  own.  For  every  vari 
ance  from  the  first  edition  there  is  either  the  authority 
of  a  correction  verbatim  by  Morgan's  own  hand  in 
his  own  copy  of  the  work,  or  satisfactory  evidence  of 
a  mechanical  error  in  transcribing  or  in  printing. 

In  the  First  and  Fifth  Chapters  of  Book  II.  and 
the  First  Chapter  of  Book  III.  there  have  also  been 
incorporated  some  text  and  a  few  cuts  (chiefly  from 
the  Fifth  Regent's  Report)  which  were  prepared  by 
Morgan  at  the  time  of  printing  the  first  edition,  and 
omitted,  as  I  am  persuaded,  for  mechanical  reasons  only. 
Every  word  of  text  is  thus  Morgan's  own. 

The  notes,  when  not  otherwise  indicated,  are  by 
myself.  In  these  notes  it  has  been  attempted  not  to 
prepare  a  new  treatise,  but  rather  to  illustrate  the  text 

149 


APPENDIX    B 

by  comparisons,  to  explain  allusions,  and  to  correct  a 
few  obvious  errors.  As  an  observer,  Morgan  was 
singularly  clear-sighted,  but  when  he  relied  upon 
others  he  was  sometimes  misled  through  insufficient 
or  erroneous  information.  It  is  especially  to  be  re 
gretted  that  of  the  French  writers  he  knew  only  the 
not  always  reliable  Charlevoix  and  the  always  unreli 
able  La  Hontan. 

It  has  been  sought  in  particular  to  present  in  these 
notes  Morgan's  matured  views  as  found  in  his  later 
works.  Regard  for  the  integrity  of  the  text  has  pre 
vented  their  incorporation  in  the  body  of  the  work. 
Some  further  editing  of  the  text  and  especially  the 
omission  of  some  obsolete  dissertations  would  indeed 
be  defensible  if  the  book  were  considered  merely  as  a 
scientific  treatise,  but  its  connection  with  the  begin 
nings  of  our  scientific  literature  demands  that  every 
word  be  retained.  It  is  Morgan's  own  work,  as  much 
as  any  man's,  that  has  made  of  the  fine  philosophy  of 
the  Sixth  Chapter  of  Book  I.,  concerning  the  origin 
and  development  of  governments,  as  much  of  an 
antique  curiosity  as  a  crossbow  or  a  horse-car.  The 
change  of  view  is  well  illustrated  by  comparing  Mor 
gan's  statement  (I.  122)  "that  there  is  a  regular  pro 
gression  of  political  institutions,  from  the  monarchical, 
which  are  the  earliest  in  time,  on  to  the  democratical, 
which  are  the  last,  the  noblest,  and  the  most  intellect 
ual,"  with  these  noble  words  of  Powell,  his  friend  and 
disciple,  "The  survey  of  governments  in  their  totality 
presents  one  fact  of  profound  interest  to  statesmen. 
Government  by  the  people  is  the  normal  condition  of 
mankind,  as  a  broad  review  of  human  history  abun- 

'5° 


INTRODUCTION 

dantly  maintains.  Monarchies  are  temporary  phases 
of  government  in  the  evolution  of  mankind  from  bar 
barism  to  civilization ;  and  these  monarchies  with 
their  attendant  hierarchies,  feudalisms,  and  slavery, 
appear  only  as  pathologic  conditions  of  the  body 
politic  —  diseases  which  must  be  destroyed  or  they 
will  destroy  —  and  hence  disappearing  by  virtue  of 
the  survival  of  the  fittest.  Hope  for  the  future  of 
society  is  the  best-beloved  daughter  of  Evolution." 
(Popular  Science  Monthly,  November,  1880,  p.  121.) 

But  these  errors  in  philosophy  were  those  of  his 
time.  Morgan's  singular  merit  is  that  from  the  be 
ginning  he  clearly  saw  the  nature  and  significance  of 
the  social  organization  and  governmental  structure  of 
the  Indian  community.  In  this  we  have  advanced 
but  little  beyond  the  League  of  the  Iroquois. 

My  thanks  are  due  to  the  many  friends  of  Mr. 
Morgan  and  students  of  the  Indian  who  have  given 
me  valuable  assistance  and  suggestions,  only  a  few  of 
whom  it  is  possible  to  name. 

This  reprint  was  first  suggested  by  Mr.  Francis  W. 
Halsey,  Editor  of  the  New  York  Times  Saturday  Re 
view  of  Books  and  Art,  in  the  number  of  that  journal 
for  December  2,  1899.  Mr.  Charles  T.  Porter,  the 
only  survivor  of  the  three  co-laborers  in  the  original 
book,  has  not  only  contributed  the  Reminiscences 
signed  by  him  but  has  been  constant  in  kind  and 
helpful  suggestions.  To  General  John  S.  Clark  I  am 
especially  indebted  for  almost  all  of  Mr.  Morgan's 
emendations  appearing  in  the  text,  as  well  as  for  other 
information ;  not  intending  by  this  acknowledgment 
to  forget  the  indebtedness  of  all  students  to  General 


APPENDIX    B 

Clark  for  his  investigations  of  Iroquois  history.  The 
Supplemental  Map  was  prepared  by  Rev.  Wm.  M. 
Beauchamp,  S.  T.  D.,  for  Bulletin  No.  32  of  the  State 
Museum,  and  is  published  with  his  kind  permission 
and  that  of  the  Museum.  Mrs.  Harriet  Maxwell 
Converse  has  not  only  aided  me  herself,  but  has  al 
lowed  me  to  examine  General  Parker's  manuscripts  in 
her  possession.  And  if  I  mention  last  one  other 
name,  it  is  because  there  is  an  especial  word  to  say. 
Mr.  John  Fiske  wrote  me,  under  date  of  March  20, 
1900:  "Morgan's  League  of  the  Iroquois  is  of 
course  a  book  of  the  highest  value.  It  is,  indeed, 
a  classic  in  that  branch  of  literature,  and  such  an  edi 
tion  of  it  as  you  propose,  with  its  errors  corrected  and 
such  annotations  added  as  the  text  may  here  and  there 
suggest,  is  exactly  the  sort  of  book  that  we  want,  and  I 
doubt  not  that  you  are  the  man  to  do  it.  If  I  could 
help  the  enterprise  in  any  way  by  writing  a  preface  or 
an  introductory  sketch  of  Morgan  and  his  work,  I 
should  be  glad  to  do  so."  The  Inexorable  has  taken 
the  pen  from  the  hand  that  wrote  these  words,  and  the 
hope  is  frustrate  of  a  brilliant  essay  like  that  which 
introduces  the  Champlain  edition  of  Parkman.  Yet  it 
seemed  that  a  few  words  should  be  written  to  introduce 
to  the  readers  of  to-day  this  book  of  half  a  century  ago. 
"And,"  like  the  scribe  of  old,  "  if  I  have  done  well 
and  as  is  fitting  the  story,  it  is  that  which  I  desired; 
but  if  slenderly  and  meanly,  it  is  that  which  I  could 
attain  unto." 

HERBERT  M.   LLOYD. 

PISECO,  N.   Y.,   October  i,  1901. 


PERSONAL    REMINISCENCES 

j  As  one  of  the  few  now  living  who  have  a  personal 
I.  xi,  knowledge  of  the  incidents  to  be  described,  I  have 

xn  been  asked  to  prepare  a  sketch  of  the  events  by 
which  Mr.  Morgan  was  led  into  his  remarkable  career  of 
Ethnological  research. 

Mr.  Morgan  was  one  of  those  rare  men  of  restless  mental 
activity  and  immense  and  tireless  energy  who  literally  create 
their  own  environment ;  turning  whatever  circumstances  they 
may  encounter  to  advantage  in  their  congenial  field  of 
achievement. 

He  was  born  in  1818,  in  Aurora,  New  York,  a  lovely 
village  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Cayuga  Lake,  the  first  spot 
settled  by  white  men  in  western  New  York,  a  place  always 
noted  for  culture  and  refinement,  now  the  seat  of  Wells 
College.  He  graduated  from  Union  College  in  1840,  and 
returned  home  to  pursue  the  study  of  law. 

Cayuga  Academy,  located  at  Aurora,  was  then  crowded 
with  young  men  from  various  parts  of  the  neighboring  coun 
try.  Mr.  Morgan,  finding  congenial  spirits  among  the  teachers 
and  elder  pupils  in  the  Academy,  joined  with  them  in  the 
formation  of  a  secret  society,  under  the  name  of  "The  Gor- 
dian  Knot,"  which  had  no  objects  beyond  the  cultivation  of 
good  fellowship  and  the  enjoyment  of  the  moment. 

P'ree  Masonry  had  flourished  in  Aurora  at  an  earlier  day, 
and  the  Masonic  Lodge  was  a  prominent  building  in  the  village. 
But  Masonry  had  suffered  an  eclipse  in  western  New  York, 
and  the  Lodge  in  Aurora  had  been  disused  for  several  years. 
The  new  secret  society  turned  it  to  account.  Effecting  a 
surreptitious  entrance,  its  members  attired  themselves  in  the 

T53 


APPENDIX    B 

white  robes  of  the  Masons  and  the  splendid  regalia  of  their 
officers,  and  held  there  their  initiations  and  their  harmless 
revels. 

The  members  of  the  society  were  full  of  youthful  en 
thusiasm,  and  many  projects  for  its  practical  usefulness  were 
discussed,  before  its  earlier  members  became  scattered  through 
western  New  York,  all  with  a  mission  to  establish  branches 
of  the  society  at  their  own  homes. 

2        Immediately  after  his  admission  to  the  bar,  Mr.  Morgan 

I-  xi  settled  in  Rochester.  There  he  soon  gathered  about 
him  a  number  of  young  men,  and  formed  them  into  a  branch 
of  the  new  secret  society.  Among  these  was  Ely  S.  Parker, 
a  full-blooded  young  Seneca  Indian,  who  had  come  from  the 
Tonawanda  reservation  to  Rochester  to  get  an  education. 

Parker  was  a  phenomenal  Indian.  He  was  fully  informed 
respecting  the  institutions  of  his  own  people,  spoke  English 
perfectly,  and  was  one  of  the  very  few  Indians  of  the  Six 
Nations  that  I  ever  heard  of  who  would  take  an  education  if 
it  were  offered  to  him.  He  improved  his  educational  oppor 
tunities  to  the  utmost,  and  made  himself  a  much  respected 
and  very  useful  man. 

More  than  twenty  years  afterwards  we  find  him  on  General 
Grant's  staff,  a  Brigadier-General,  and  made  by  Grant  his 
private  secretary,  on  account  of  his  high  intelligence  and 
superior  penmanship.  The  articles  of  Lee's  capitulation  are 
in  his  handwriting. 

When  Grant  became  President,  he  appointed  Parker  Com 
missioner  of  Indian  Affairs.  Fora  number  of  years  preceding 
his  death  he  was  employed  in  the  Architectural  Bureau  of  the 
New  York  City  government. 

Parker  was  an  invaluable  find  for  Mr.  Morgan.  All  his 
communication  with  the  Indians  of  the  Six  Nations  was 
conducted  through  him  as  interpreter. 

Directly  after  Parker's  initiation  into  the  new  society  the 
scheme  was  formed  for  its  reorganization,  on  the  basis  of 
the  League  of  the  Iroquois,  and  for  devoting  it  to  the  study 

154 


REMINISCENCES    OF    MORGAN 

and  perpetuation  of  Indian  lore,  and  the  education  of  the 
Indians  in  the  State  of  New  York,  and  their  encouragement 
under  the  new  conditions  of  their  existence. 

The  plan  met  with  an  enthusiastic  reception,  and  the  next 
summer  saw  a  convention  at  Aurora,  attended  by  about  a 
hundred  and  fifty  delegates  from  the  various  branches  of  the 
society,  at  which  an  organization  was  effected,  a  constitution 
adopted,  and  Sachems  were  elected  and  raised  up.  The 
3  opening  sentence  of  the  Preface  to  the  League  of  the 

I-  ix  Iroquois  was  the  first  sentence  of  the  preamble  to  this 
constitution,  written  by  Mr.  Morgan. 

The  society  was  known  to  the  public  as  u  The  Grand 
Order  of  the  Iroquois;"  but  for  its  members,  both  the  so 
ciety  and  its  branches  were  baptized  with  Indian  names. 
The  general  name  of  the  society  was  We-yo-ha-yo-de-Ka-de,- 
Na-ho-de'-no-sau-nee, — "They  who  live  in  the  home  of  the 
dwellers  in  the  long  house." 

In  pronouncing  this  name  the  accented  syllable  "  de " 
must  be  pronounced  "  deck,"  with  only  an  incipient  "  k," 
and  be  followed  by  a  pause. 

The  new  society  established  branches  through  western  New 
York,  and  so  far  east  as  Utica.  Its  enthusiasm  kept  it  alive 
for  a  few  years,  and  its  annual  conventions  held  in  the  old 
Masonic  Lodge  in  Aurora,  with  addresses  and  poems  by  such 
men  as  H.  R.  Schoolcraft  and  Alfred  B.  Street,  and  initia 
tions  in  the  woods  at  midnight,  were  well  worthy  to  be 
remembered. 

But  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  Indians  met  with  no  encourag 
ing  response  on  their  part.  As  Mr.  Morgan  afterwards 
expressed  it,  the  attempt  was  idle  to  transplant  them  across 
two  or  three  ethnic  periods.  As  for  their  remains,  beyond 
the  beautiful  names  they  had  given  to  our  lakes  and  streams, 
there  were  none.  The  Indian  is  an  evanescent  being,  and 
leaves  behind  him  no  more  trace  of  his  existence  than  a 
summer  cloud. 

When    the    active    existence    of    the    society    had    ended, 

155 


APPENDIX   B 

it  was  found  that  its  final  outcome,  and  one  well  worthy  to 
be  its  single  fruitage,  was  Morgan's  League  of  the  Iroquois. 

But  to  this  there  had  afterwards  to  be  added  his  remarkable 
series  of  original  ethnological  investigations,  the  grasp  of 
which  comprehended  all  ancient  society,  and  which  he  pur 
sued  with  an  enduring  enthusiasm  through  his  life.  These 
all  had  their  genesis  in  the  old  Masonic  Hall  in  Aurora, 
which  the  ethnological  pilgrim  may  still  find  in  good  preserva 
tion,  not  far  from  the  house  in  which  Lewis  H.  Morgan  first 
saw  the  light. 

4  The  society  seemed,  however,  to  have  been  raised 
II.  121  up  to  do  one  other  useful  work.  The  Ogden  Land 
Company,  who  held  the  pernicious  pre-emptive  right  to  pur 
chase  the  Indian  reservations  in  New  York,  whenever  the 
Indians  should  be  willing  to  sell,  had,  by  the  methods  which 
have  been  fitly  characterized  by  Mr.  Morgan,  got  from  the 
Tonawanda  band  a  treaty  for  the  sale  of  their  reservation  ; 
and  this  treaty  was  before  the  United  States  Senate  for  ratifi 
cation.  The  new  society  made  it  its  business  to  secure 
the  rejection  of  this  treaty.  For  this  purpose  it  circulated 
petitions  throughout  western  New  York,  and  sent  Mr. 
Morgan  to  Washington  to  make  a  personal  presentation  of 
the  evidences  of  the  fraud.  He  found  the  Senators  astonished 
at  the  flood  of  petitions  that  had  poured  in  upon  them,  and 
quite  ready  to  listen  to  his  presentation  of  the  case.  The 
result  was  the  rejection  of  the  treaty  by  a  decisive  vote,  and 
the  security  of  the  Indians  on  all  their  reservations  ever  since. 

This  was  indeed  an  invaluable  service.  For  the  promi 
nent  part  that  he  took  in  it,  Mr.  Morgan  became  widely 
known  as  the  friend  of  the  Indians,  —  a  distinction  which  he 
found  most  valuable  in  his  subsequent  investigations.  Every 
thing  was  communicated  to  him  with  a  cordial  frankness  and 
fulness  that  prevented  him  from  falling  into  errors,  which 
are  inevitable  when  information  Is  given  with  reserve  or 
perhaps  with  intentional  inaccuracy.  He  found  no  trouble 
in  getting  to  the  very  heart  of  things.  For  example,  he  alone 


VISIT    TO     THE    SENEGAS 

has  given  us  the  true  and  simple  philosophy  of  the  annual 
sacrifice  of  the  white  dog.  This  advantage  has  helped  very 
much,  in  addition  to  his  habitual  thoroughness,  to  make  his 
statements  authoritative. 

Not  long  after  the  rejection  of  the  treaty,  probably  in  1847, 
Mr.  Morgan  was  invited  to  visit  the  Indians  on  the  Tona- 
wanda  reservation,  for  the  purpose  of  being  adopted  into  the 
Seneca  Nation.  I  had  the  honor,  together  with  Mr.  Thomas 
Darling,  of  Auburn,  New  York,  to  accompany  him.  No 
date  was  fixed  for  this  visit.  The  Indians  were  always  at 
home.  We  went  in  a  pleasant  season,  and  when  we  knew 
we  should  find  Ely  Parker  there. 

Our  entry  into  the  reservation  was  not  especially  dignified. 
We  had  a  walk  of  some  three  or  four  miles,  if  I  remember 
correctly,  across  the  country  from  the  railway  station;  when 
we  came  to  a  stream,  which  was  the  boundary  of  the  reserva 
tion  on  that  side.  The  stream  was  about  fifteen  yards  wide, 
and  only  from  a  foot  to  eighteen  inches  deep.  There  was 
no  bridge.  Indians  have  no  use  for  bridges.  A  dug-out 
canoe  was  hauled  up  on  the  bank.  The  water  was  clear 
and  the  bottom  quite  distinct.  Seeing  how  shallow  it  was, 
I  concluded  to  wade  across.  Morgan  and  Darling  agreed 
to  utilize  the  canoe.  This  having  been  partially  launched, 
Darling  wrapped  himself  in  his  cloak,  and  took  his  seat 
on  the  bottom  of  the  canoe  at  the  forward  end.  Morgan 
gave  it  its  final  shove,  and  jumped  in.  In  doing  this  he 
tipped  the  canoe  over.  He  saved  himself  from  a  worse  duck 
ing  by  leaping  nimbly  into  the  water,  but  poor  Darling  in 
his  helpless  position  was  rolled  out.  After  righting  and 
securing  the  canoe,  they  had  to  wade  across  after  all. 

Our  visit  lasted  ten  days.  The  forenoons  were  devoted 
by  Mr.  Morgan  to  filling  his  note-book;  the  afternoons  to 
witnessing  games  and  dances  got  up  in  our  honor,  and  the 
evenings  mostly  to  hearing  Indian  traditions,  in  which  I  re 
member  feeling  deeply  interested  at  the  time,  but  of  which 
I  do  not  now  remember  a  word. 

157 


APPENDIX    B 

The  ceremony   of  adoption  was   a   very   simple  one. 

I.  xi,     In  fact,  all  of  it  I  can  now  recall  was  a  long  address 

332      by  old  Jimmy  Johnson,  the  religious   teacher  of  the 

Indians  ;   and  that  each  of  us  received  a  name,  and  was  made 

a  member  of  a  particular  tribe,  a  different  one   in   each  case, 

and  learned  who  were  our  brothers,  and  who  were  only  our 

cousins,  —  all  long  ago  forgotten. 

(Mr.  Morgan  has  left  an  account  of  this  adoption  in  a 
foot-note  on  page  81  of  Ancient  Society,  by  which  it  appears 
that  he  at  least  was  taken  into  the  Hawk  clan.  The  cere 
mony  took  place  at  the  council-house.  The  address  men 
tioned  by  Mr.  Porter  included  an  account  of  Messrs. 
Morgan,  Darling  and  Porter,  the  reasons  for  adopting 
them,  the  clans  and  persons  adopting  them,  and  the 
names  they  were  to  receive.  Then  each  neophyte  was  es 
corted  by  two  chiefs  up  and  down  the  council-house.  The 
chiefs  held  their  new  brother  by  the  arms  and  chanted  the 
song  of  adoption  as  they  marched,  the  people  responding 
in  musical  chorus  at  the  end  of  each  verse.  At  the  end 
of  the  third  lap,  the  song  and  the  march  ceased  together. 
-H.  M.  L.) 

5  The  morning  sessions  with  the  oldest  Indians,  held 
II.  96  with  them  individually  in  their  own  houses,  were 
very  interesting.  A  number  of  these  were  devoted  by  Mr. 
Morgan  to  obtaining  geographical  names,  Parker,  as  always, 
acting  as  interpreter.  I  was  full  of  admiration  of  these  old 
men,  who  in  their  youth  had  hunted  over  all  western  New 
York,  and  who  showed  such  a  wonderful  acquaintance  with 
the  location  and  course  of  every  river  and  stream.  In  fact, 
the  whole  map  appeared  to  exist  in  their  minds.  They 
seemed  to  have  developed  another  sense,  which  we,  who 
depend  upon  books  and  maps,  and  do  not  live  in  life-long 
familiarity  with  nature,  do  not  possess.  They  were  men  of 
the  woods,  who,  with  nothing  to  depend  on  but  their  powers 
of  observation  and  memory,  in  trackless  forests  could  never 
lose  their  way. 

.153 


DANCE    AND    FEAST 

7  Our  initiation  was  followed  by  a  dance  in  the  council- 
I-  273  house,  in  which  we  were  allowed  to  participate,  and 
were  provided  with  partners.  This  was  the  only  dance  we 
witnessed  in  which  the  women  took  part.  Then  for  the  first 
time  my  ears  were  regaled  with  Indian  music.  Two  young 
men  were  seated,  on  opposite  sides  of  a  drum,  which  looked 
to  me  very  much  like  a  nail-keg.  On  this  they  pounded 
violently  with  sticks,  as  an  accompaniment  to  the  most  dis 
cordant  howling.  The  Indian  has  no  conception  of  musical 
intervals.  The  performance  had  therefore  the  attraction  of 
complete  novelty.  But  they  kept  good  time,  and  the  dancing 
was  animated. 

This  was  followed  by  a  curious  feast.  A  bullock  had  been 
killed  and  cut  up  in  the  Indian  fashion ;  that  is,  all  the  flesh 
had  been  cut  into  small  pieces,  and  made  into  a  stew.  The 
large  kettles  in  which  this  had  been  boiled  were  taken  into  the 
council-house,  and  set  in  a  row  in  the  middle  of  the  floor,  and 
the  dancing  was  in  a  procession  around  them.  The  dancers 
were  in  pairs,  facing  each  other,  about  six  feet  apart,  one 
moving  forward  and  the  other  backward,  with  a  shuffling  step. 
Every  minute  or  two,  on  a  signal  from  the  leader,  all  changed 
places.  I  remember  that  my  partner,  by  a  sudden  exclamation, 
saved  me  from  dancing  backwards  into  a  kettle  of  hot  stew. 
Every  family  had  brought  a  pail,  and  at  the  conclusion  of  the 
dance  these  pails  were  filled,  and  the  stew  was  carried  home 
to  be  eaten. 

I  was  much  impressed,  on  another  afternoon,  by  a  grand 
thanksgiving  dance,  performed  by  thirty  or  forty  young  men, 
attired  in  Indian  full  dress,  that  is,  in  head  feathers  and  the 
breech  cloth.  This  dance  was  really  inspiring.  It  was  a 
slowly  advancing  processional  dance,  in  single  file.  Each 
dancer  seemed  to  follow  his  own  inspiration,  and  all  appeared 
to  vie  with  each  other  in  the  vigor  of  their  steps  and  the 
stateliness  of  their  postures.  This  exhibition  of  animated 
statuary,  with  the  varied  and  majestic  character  of  their  move 
ments,  had  a"  grandeur  which  to  my  mind  was  most  suggestive 


APPENDIX    B 

of  the  sentiment  of  worship  which  it  was  intended  to  express. 
Just  in  this  manner,  doubtless,  King  David  "  danced  before 
the  Lord  with  all  his  might." 

We  were  entertained  in  several  houses,  different  families 
taking  us  in  turn,  and  all  apparently  proud  to  do  so.  The 
entertainment,  however,  was  everywhere  the  same.  We 
enjoyed  most  the  hospitality  of  Parker's  father,  who  was 
a  rather  progressive  Indian,  belonging  to  the  Christian  party, 
and  who  spoke  a  little  English.  His  daughter  Caroline, 
whom  the  society  was  having  educated  in  the  State  Normal 
School  at  Albany,  was  then  at  home,  and  helped  much  to 
make  it  pleasant  for  us.  She  seemed  quite  as  exceptional  as 
her  brother  Ely. 

8  We  were  naturally  interested  in  what  we  should 
II.  30  get  to  eat.  The  reader  may  be  amused  by  a  de 
scription  of  our  breakfast.  Corn  was  kept  on  the  cob.  The 
inner  husks  were  turned  back  and  braided  together ;  the 
ears  being  arranged  like  a  bunch  of  Chinese  crackers.  The 
first  thing  every  morning  some  of  these  were  unbraided,  and 
the  corn  was  shelled  by  rubbing  two  ears  together.  The  corn 
was  then  boiled  for  a  few  minutes  in  a  kettle  with  ashes.  This 
completely  removed  the  skin  and  cortex  from  every  kernel. 
The  former  floated,  and  were  poured  off  with  the  water.  The 
latter,  softened  sufficiently  to  be  pounded  into  meal,  were 
washed  in  clean  water  and  placed  in  the  mortar,  which  was  a 
tree  stump  hollowed  out.  Two  women,  standing  on  opposite 
sides  of  the  mortar,  with  their  pounders  soon  made  the  corn 
fine  enough.  We  were  awakened  every  morning  by  the  sound 
of  the  pounders  all  over  the  reservation.  I  have  often  won 
dered  why  a  process  somewhat  similar  to  boiling  in  ashes  was 
not  employed  by  millers  who  grind  Indian  corn  for  human 
food,  for  the  same  purpose  which  that  accomplished  so 
effectually. 

The  meal  was  then  mixed  with  black  beans,  and  made  into 
cakes  about  an  inch  thick  and  six  or  eight  inches  in  diameter, 
without  salt  or  leaven.  These  cakes  were  set  on  edge  in  a 

160 


RELIGIOUS    SENTIMENT 

pot  of  water,  and  boiled  for  perhaps  half  an  hour,  when  break 
fast  was  ready.  Our  beverage  was  hemlock  tea,  without  milk 
or  sugar.  Dinner  was  the  same,  except  that  the  corn  and 
beans  were  made  into  succotash,  instead  of  cakes,  and  some 
times  we  had  beef  stew. 

When  we  left,  a  brother  of  Ely  Parker,  a  lad  about  twelve 
years  old,  drove  us  over  to  the  village  where  we  were  to  take 
the  train,  and  we  invited  him  to  dine  with  us.  At  dinner  he 
stared  at  us  with  distending  eyeballs,  and  at  last  exclaimed, 
"  How  you  eat !  You  make  me  think  of  the  appetite  I  had 
once,  after  I  had  been  a  week  with  the  white  folks  and  could 
hardly  eat  anything." 

A  mission  was  maintained  on  the  reservation,  in  charge  of 
a  Baptist  clergyman,  whom  we  did  not  meet.  We  learned 
afterwards  with  regret  that  this  good  man  was  much  distressed 
by  our  visit,  the  tendency  of  which  was  to  lead  the  Indians 
back  to  their  games  and  dances,  from  which,  the  latter  espe 
cially,  he  was  doing  his  best  to  wean  them  to  civilized  ways 
and  Christianity.  But  the  Indians  were  not  idolaters  ;  and  who 
ever  heard  of  any  Christians  who  were  more  grateful  to  the 
Giver  of  all  for  so  little  ? 

I  have  often  thought  that,  of  all  men  I  have  personally 
known,  Lewis  H.  Morgan  was  most  singularly  entitled  to 
have  inscribed  over  his  life-work  this  line  from  his  favorite 
Horace, — 

"  Exegi  monumentum  tere  perennius" 

CHARLES  TALBOT  PORTER. 

MONTCLAIR,   N.   J.,   6th  February,    1901. 


VOL.   II.  —  II  l6l 


LEWIS   H.    MORGAN 

IN  the  first  Assembly  of  Connecticut  Colony  sat  James 
Morgan  and  John  Steele,  the  paternal  and  maternal  immigrant 
ancestors  of  Lewis  H.  Morgan.  In  1636,  James  Morgan, 
with  his  younger  brother  Miles,  had  emigrated  to  New 
England.  From  these  two  brothers  all  the  Morgans  promi 
nent  in  the  annals  of  New  York  and  New  England  are 
believed  to  be  descended.  Among  the  descendants  of  James 
Morgan  was  the  Hon.  Jedediah  Morgan,  who,  at  the  time 
of  his  death  in  1826,  represented  his  Senatorial  District  in 
the  New  York  Legislature.  He  married  Harriet  Steele,  a 
descendant  of  John  Steele  above  named,  who  emigrated  from 
England  before  1632,  is  said  to  have  lived  for  a  while  near 
Cambridge,  and  was  one  of  the  founders  of  Hartford.  In 
the  venerable  homestead  which  still  stands  on  Washington 
Street  in  that  city,  Harriet  Steele  was  born.  Her  great-grand 
father,  Samuel  Steele,  a  grandson  of  John,  had  married,  in 
1680,  Mercy  Bradford,  granddaughter  of  Governor  William 
Bradford  of  Plymouth  Colony.  Through  her  Mr.  Morgan's 
ancestry  is  traced  back  to  the  "  Mayflower." 

The  son  of  Jedediah  Morgan  and  Harriet  Steele,  his  wife, 
Lewis  Henry  Morgan  was  born  at  Aurora,  New  York,  No 
vember  21,  1818.  After  receiving  a  good  education  at 
Cayuga  Academy  in  his  native  town  and  at  Union  College, 
from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1840,  he  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  Rochester,  where  he  formed  a  partnership  with  George 
F.  Danforth,  afterwards  a  judge  of  the  Court  of  Appeals.  In 
1855  Morgan  became  interested  in  a  railroad  from  Marquette, 
Michigan,  to  the  Lake  Superior  Iron  region.  This  investment 
proved  profitable,  and  soon  required  so  much  attention  as  to 

162 


SKETCH    OF    MORGAN 

withdraw  him   from  his  law   practice,  which  he  never  actively 
resumed. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  many  of  those  who  have  taken 
an  interest  in  early  American  history  and  in  the  study  of  the 
Aborigines  have  been  active  in  political  life,  and  Morgan 
served  twice  in  the  New  York  Legislature,  —  in  1861  in  the 
Assembly,  and  in  1868  in  the  Senate.  It  is  hardly  necessary 
to  mention  that  in  public  as  in  private  life  his  sincerity  and 
energy  were  notable.  He  travelled  extensively  in  the  United 
States,  visiting  many  Indian  tribes  in  their  homes,  was  a 
member  of  many  scientific  societies  both  at  home  and  abroad, 
became  in  1868  a  fellow  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts 
and  Sciences,  and  in  1880  was  President  of  the  American 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science.  The  degree 
of  LL.D.  came  to  him  from  Union  College.  December  17, 
1881,  he  died.  In  1851  Mr.  Morgan  was  married  to  his 
cousin  Miss  Mary  A.  Steele,  daughter  of  Lemuel  Steele,  of 
Albany  ;  of  their  children  only  one,  Mr.  Lemuel  Morgan,  of 
Rochester,  survived  his  father.  Under  Morgan's  will  his  es 
tate,  which  was  considerable,  will  ultimately  pass  to  Rochester 
University  for  the  establishment  of  a  college  for  women. 

Mr.  Porter  has  told  us  the  interesting  story  of  the  beginning 
of  Mr.  Morgan's  interest  in  the  Iroquois.  It  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  the  opportunity  for  the  intimate  knowledge  of 
Indian  institutions  which  bore  such  valuable  fruit  came  to 
him  as  the  voluntary  champion  of  the  Senecas  against  injus 
tice.  The  righteous  and  generous  enthusiasm  of  this  young 
man  gained  a  new  field  for  science,  and  for  himself  undying 
fame. 

Securing    the    full   confidence    and    gratitude    of  the 

I.  xi,  Senecas,  he  was,  on  October  31,  1847,  adopted  into 
264,  332  tne  Hawk  clan  u  as  the  son  of  Jimmy  Johnson,"  Sose- 
ha'wa,  receiving  the  name  of  Ta-ya-da-o-wuk'-kuh  "  one  lying 
across,"  that  is,  a  bridge  or  bond  of  union  between  the  Indians 
and  the  white  men. 

At  the  "  Councils  of  the  New  Confederacy    of  the    Iro- 

163 


APPENDIX    B 

quois,"  the  society  described  by  Mr.  Porter,  Mr.  Morgan 
read  during  the  years  1844-46  various  papers  containing  the 
results  of  his  researches  among  the  Senecas,  and  these  were 
in  1847  amplified  and  arranged  under  the  title  of  Letters  on 
the  Iroquois,  by  Skenandoah,  addressed  to  Albert  Gallatin,  LL.D., 
President  New  York  Historical  Society,  and  were  published 
during  that  year  in  the  numbers  of  The  American  Review ; 
a  IVhig  Journal  of  Politics,  Literature,  Art  and  Science,  for 
the  months  of  February,  March,  A/lay,  November,  and  De 
cember.  These  sixteen  letters  were,  in  fact,  a  first  printing 
of  the  material  contained  in  the  present  volume.  The  ad 
vertisement  to  the  Letters  is  worth  reprinting  :  — 

«  ADVERTISEMENT. 

u  It  is  proper  to  observe,  that  many  parts  of  the  following 
letters  were  read  on  several  occasions  in  the  years  1844,  5,  &  6, 
before  the  Councils  of  the  New  Confederacy  of  the  Iroquois ; 
and  to  the  establishment  of  that  historical  institution,  the  re 
search  by  which  the  facts  were  accumulated,  is  chiefly  to  be 
attributed.  The  Institution  referred  to  is  founded  upon  the 
ancient  Confederacy  of  the  Five  Nations  ;  and  its  symbolic 
council-fires  are  kindled  upon  the  ancient  territories  of  the 
Mohawks,  the  Oneidas,  the  Onondagas,  the  Cayugas,  and 
the  Senecas.  In  the  design  from  which  it  originated — to 
gather  the  fragments  of  the  history,  the  institutions,  and  the 
government  of  our  Indian  predecessors,  and  to  encourage 
a  kinder  feeling  towards  the  Red  Man  —  literary  and  moral 
objects  are  presented,  in  themselves  as  attractive  to  the  scholar 
and  the  moralist  as  they  are  dignified  and  just.  If,  in  pur 
suing  this  design,  the  new  Confederacy  shall  eventually  trace 
out  the  footsteps  of  the  Iroquois  beside  our  rivers,  hills,  and 
lakes  —  preserving  thus  the  vestiges  of  their  existence;  and 
shall  extend  to  the  small  residue  of  their  descendants,  still 
within  our  limits,  the  hand  of  kindness  and  protection,  it  will 
have  achieved  a  work  not  unworthy  of  after  praise.*' 

Morgan  had  in  1846  read  before  the  New  York  Historical 

164 


PARKMAN'S    REVIEW 

Society  an  essay  on  the  Constitutional  Government  of  the 
Six  Nations  of  Indians,  which  though  not  printed  under  that 
name  may  no  doubt  substantially  be  found  in  the  Letters, 
and  it  is  probable  that  the  substance  of  all  the  letters  was  read 
before  the  society. 

The  first  eleven  letters  were  in  1848  reprinted  in  The 
Olden  Time,  an  Antiquarian  Magazine,  then  published  in  Pitts 
burgh.  In  1849  and  1850  m  New  York  and  Canada  Mr. 
Morgan  collected  for  the  State  Museum  at  Albany  a  number 
of  articles  of  Iroquois  manufacture,  and  in  the  second,  third, 
and  fifth  reports  of  the  Board  of  Regents  on  the  Museum  are 
pictures,  prepared  under  his  supervision,  of  many  of  these  arti 
cles,  with  descriptive  text  from  his  pen.  In  1851  he  brought 
together  and  revised  the  Letters  on  the  Iroquois,  and  some  of  the 
descriptions  in  the  Museum  reports,  and  published  them  with 
some  new  matter  in  a  single  volume,  the  League  of  the  Iro 
quois.  This  book,  says  a  high  authority,  "  was  the  first  scien 
tific  account  of  an  Indian  tribe  ever  given  to  the  world,"  and 
it  entitles  Mr.  Morgan  to  the  name  of  father  of  American  An 
thropology.  Its  value  was  at  once  appreciated,  and  it  has  ever 
since  been  recognized  as  a  classic  of  literature  and  as  the  first 
authority  in  all  matters  relating  to  the  Iroquois. 

If  we  eliminate  from  this  book  the  historical  errors  into 
which  Mr.  Morgan  was  led  by  relying  on  other  writers,  and  the 
recitals  of  the  false  theories  of  the  origins  of  government  and 
society  which  then  prevailed,  and  which  he  was  soon  himself 
to  destroy,  we  have  a  work  which  has  stood  and  will  stand 
the  test  of  time,  both  as  science  and  as  literature. 

The  book  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  reviewed  by  Francis 
Parkman  (Christian  Examiner,  May,  1851),  who  said:- — 

u  And  here  a  new  sun  has  arisen,  revealing  the  scene  before 
us  in  all  its  breadth  and  depth.  Mr.  Morgan's  work  on  the  abo 
riginal  tribes  of  New  York  is  a  production  of  singular  merit." 

IO      u  To  find  fault  with  a  book  of  so  much  merit  is  not  a 

I-  54  pleasing  task,  but  in  truth  Mr.  Morgan  has  been  led 
into  some  degree  of  error  by  the  very  zeal  and  devotion  with 

•65 


APPENDIX    B 

which  he  has  labored.  He  ascribes  to  the  Iroquois  legis 
lators  a  wisdom  of  forecast  and  a  refining  spirit  beyond  what 
is,  as  we  conceive,  justly  their  due.  In  his  pages  their 
peculiar  institutions  assume  an  appearance  of  too  much  studied 
adjustment  and  careful  elaboration." 

u  We  cordially  commend  the  work  of  Mr.  Morgan  to  the 
study  of  all  to  whom  the  character  and  customs  of  those  who 
preceded  us  on  this  soil  are  objects  of  interest." 

In  1880  (Pop.  Set.  Monthly,  November)  Major  J.  W. 
Powell,  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  wrote  :  — 

IX       "The  work  is  not  entirely  free  from   the  nomencla- 

I-  74  ture  of  sociology  previously,  and  to  some  extent  since, 
used  by  writers  on  our  North  American  Indians,  in  which 
tribes  are  described  as  nations  and  the  institutions  of  tribal 
or  barbaric  life  defined  in  terms  used  in  national  or  civilized 
life.  But  the  series  of  organic  units  was  discovered  among 
the  Iroquois  and  was  correctly  defined,  though  the  confederacy 
was  called  a  league,  the  tribe  a  nation,  and  the  gens  a  tribe. 
In  like  manner  kinship  as  the  bond  of  union  was  fully 
recognized." 

Mr.  Morgan's  second  book  was  the  result  of  observations 
made  on  fishing  excursions  in  northern  Michigan,  taken  in  the 
intervals  of  his  railroad  work  in  that  country.  This  book, 
The  American  Beaver  and  his  Works,  published  in  1868,  would 
in  itself  support  no  small  reputation.  The  same  sympathy 
and  insight  which  made  aboriginal  institutions  an  open  book 
to  him  extended  even  to  the  lower  animals.  An  intimate 
friend  says :  "  He  did  not  fully  agree  with  the  commonly 
received  doctrine,  that  they  were  simply  for  the  uses  of  man, 
but  inclined  to  the  opinion  that  they  were  created  for  their 
own  happiness  and  welfare,  and  should  be  treated  accordingly. 
He  did  not  like  to  hear  them  called  brutes.  I  well  remember 
that  on  a  certain  occasion  when  I  had  applied  this  word  to 
the  animals,  he  said,  '  You  ought  not  to  use  that  word  ;  it 
has  a  bad  sense  ;  you  should  call  them  the  mutes.'  '  (  The  Life 
and  Works  of  Lewis  H.  Morgan,  LL.D.,  an  address  at  his 

166 


X 

MORGAN'S    DISCOVERIES 

funeral  by  Rev.  J.  H.  Mcllvaine,  D.D.)  The  word  mute  is, 
in  fact,  used  throughout  The  Beaver  in  the  sense  of  animal 
other  than  man. 

In  his  studies  of  the  beaver,  Morgan  made  in  the  country 
south  of  Lake  Superior  a  fine  collection  of  specimens  of 
beaver-gnawed  wood,  which  in  1866  he  gave  to  the  New 
York  State  Museum. 

I2      In   the    fourth   chapter  of  the   League   of  the  Iroquois 

I.  8 1  Morgan  had  mentioned  the  peculiar  system  of  relation 
ship  which  he  had  found  among  the  Senecas.  Its  significance 
he  did  not  then  appreciate,  but  reflection  convinced  him  that 
some  great  fact  in  the  history  of  society  lay  behind  this  appar 
ent  eccentricity.  Dr.  Mcllvaine  says,  in  the  address  already 
quoted  :  "His  intimacy  with  this  aboriginal  people  made  him 
acquainted  with  a  striking  feature  of  their  system  of  kinship  — 
their  mode  of  characterizing  their  relationships  and  affinities 
with  each  other.  He  found  that  they  called,  in  systematic 
manner,  those  their  brothers  and  sisters,  uncles  and  aunts, 
fathers  and  mothers,  who  were  not  such  in  reality.  This 
apparent  confusion  of  relationships  had  been  often  noticed 
before,  but  no  one  had  ever  seen  in  it  anything  but  confusion, 
and  the  reign  of  utter  unreason.  Not  a  glimpse  of  any  signifi 
cance  in  it  had  ever  been  discerned.  To  illustrate  this  I  will 
mention  that  when  one  of  the  papers  describing  this  strange 
system  of  relationships  was  read  before  our  Rochester  Club,  of 
which  our  friend  was  one  of  the  original  founders,  the  beloved 
and  lamented  Dr.  Chester  Dewey  being  the  other,  one  of 
the  most  distinguished  members  of  the  Club  remarked  that  he 
1  could  see  nothing  in  it  but  the  total  depravity  and  perversity 
of  the  Indian  mind  —  that  it  could  ever  have  thought  of  such 
utterly  absurd  ways  of  characterizing  relationships  and  affini 
ties.'  After  our  friend  had  mastered  the  peculiarities  of  this 
Iroquois  system,  his  next  stage  was  the  discovery,  to  his  great 
surprise,  that  it  was  substantially  identical  with  that  of  the 
Dakota  tribes  in  the  far  West.  This  led  him  to  his  first  great 
generalization  ;  for  the  power  of  generalization  was  one  of  the 


APPENDIX    B 

most  distinguished  traits  of  his  mind.  Now,  then,  it  occurred 
to  him  that  this  Iroquois  and  Dakota  system  of  relationships 
might  be  common  to  ail  the  aborigines  of  both  North  and 
South  America.  This  was  followed  by  ten  years  of  study, 
travel  among  the  Indian  tribes,  and  investigation,  in  every 
direction  on  the  continent,  to  discover  whether  his  gener 
alization  could,  or  could  not,  be  verified.  The  result  was 
such  as  to  leave  no  room  for  doubt  —  this  peculiar  way  of 
designating  their  relationships  and  affinities  was  universal 
among  all  the  Indian  tribes  of  America.  Thus  he  reached 
one  of  the  strongest  arguments  that  have  ever  been  given  for 
the  unity  of  the  whole  Indian  race  —  that  it  is  of  one  and  the 
same  blood  or  stock  —  a  result  which  all  preceding  and  sub 
sequent  investigation  has  tended  to  confirm  and  establish. 

"  When  he  had  attained  to  this  stage  in  his  inquiries  a 
second  and  wider  generalization  occurred  to  him,  namely, 
that  possibly  the  system  might  be  found  among  the  Turanian 
Tribes  of  the  old  continents,  including  the  ante-Brahmanical 
population  of  India  —  among  those  portions  of  the  human 
race  which  were  in  conditions  most  similar  to  that  of  the 
aborigines  of  this  country,  and  from  which  these  might  have 
been  derived.  This  led  him  into  another  ten  years  of  study 
and  investigation,  extending  over  a  very  large  portion  of  the 
human  race,  during  which,  through  the  co-operation  of  the 
Smithsonian  Institution,  which  had  by  this  time  become  deeply 
interested  in  his  studies,  he  was  sending  out  his  schedules  of 
questions  to  the  missionaries  and  consuls  wherever  they  were 
stationed,  and  getting  his  returns.  During  this  period  he 
lived  and  worked  often  in  a  state  of  great  mental  excitement, 
and  the  answers  he  received,  as  they  came  in,  sometimes 
nearly  overpowered  him.  I  well  remember  one  occasion 
when  he  came  into  my  study,  saying,  '  I  shall  find  it,  I  shall 
find  it  among  the  Tamil  people  and  Dravidian  tribes  of 
Southern  India.'  At  this  time  I  had  no  expectation  of  any 
such  result ;  and  I  said  to  him,  c  My  friend,  you  have  enough 
to  do  in  working  out  your  discovery  in  connection  with  the 

168 


X 

MORGAN'S    DISCOVERIES 

tribes  of  the  American  continent  —  let  the  peoples  of  the  old 
world  go.'  He  replied,  CI  cannot  do  it  —  I  cannot  do  it  — 
I  must  go  on,  for  I  am  sure  I  shall  find  it  all  there.'  Some 
months  afterward,  he  came  in  again,  his  face  all  aglow  with 
excitement,  the  Tamil  schedule  in  his  hands,  the  answers  to 
his  questions  just  what  he  had  predicted,  and,  throwing  it  on 
my  table,  he  exclaimed,  '  There  !  what  did  I  tell  you  ?  '  I 
was  indeed  amazed  and  confounded ;  and  still  more  as  his 
predicted  results  poured  in  upon  him  from  a  great  multitude 
of  independent  sources.  And  this  his  second  generalization 
was  triumphantly  verified.  The  system  was  found  to  prevail 
in  all  its  essential  features  throughout  the  Turanian  and  Poly 
nesian  families  of  mankind. 

"  Having  satisfied  himself  on  this  point,  and  reasoning  from 
analogy,  he  now  conjectured  that  this  same  system  of  relation 
ship  and  affinities  might  have  prevailed  also  in  prehistoric 
times  among  the  Semitic  and  Aryan  nations  and  races,  as  he 
had  already  found  it  in  the  Turanian  and  Polynesian  groups 
—  in  a  word,  that  it  might  once  have  been  absolutely  uni 
versal.  When  he  broached  this  final  generalization  to  me,  I 
was  appalled,  not  having  the  least  expectation  that  it  could 
ever  be  verified.  But,  with  his  accustomed  enthusiasm  and 
energy,  almost  superhuman,  he  immediately  addressed  himself 
to  another  vast  series  of  investigations,  with  a  similar  result  in 
the  end.  He  found  overwhelming  evidence  that  the  system 
had  once  prevailed  in  all  the  Arabic  or  Semitic  peoples,  in 
cluding  the  Hebrews,  in  all  the  Sanscritic  or  Aryan  branches, 
the  Brahmans,  Persians,  Greeks,  Romans,  Gothic,  Celtic  and 
Sclavonic  nations  —  among  our  own  ancestors  —  in  a  word, 
throughout  the  human  race,  over  three-fourths  of  which  his 
investigations  extended.  This  last  generalization  stands  per 
haps  unequalled  for  its  vastness  and  grandeur,  and  for  its  fruit- 
fulness  in  results,  by  anything  in  the  history  of  science  known 
to  me,  except  that  of  the  Newtonian  theory  of  gravitation. 

"  These    results,  with  a  partial   discussion  of  their  signifi 
cance,  were  published  in    1871  by  the  Smithsonian  Institution 

169 


APPENDIX    B 

in  a  large  quarto  volume,  entitled  Systems  of  Consanguinity 
and  Affinity  of  the  Human  Family.  But  until  that  work 
was  nearly  ready  for  the  press,  our  friend  had  not  perceived 
any  material  significance  or  explanation  of  the  immense  body 
of  entirely  new  facts  which  he  had  discovered  and  collected. 
He  could  not  at  all  account  for  them.  In  fact,  he  regarded 
this  system,  or  these  slightly  varying  forms  of  one  system,  as 
invented  and  wholly  artificial,  so  different  was  it  from  that 
which  now  prevails  in  civilized  society,  and  which  evidently 
follows  the  flow  of  the  blood.  During  all  these  years,  he  had 
not  the  least  conception  of  any  process  of  thought  in  which  it 
could  have  originated,  or  of  anything  which  could  have  caused 
it  so  universally  to  prevail.  He  treated  it  as  something  which 
must  throw  great  light  upon  prehistoric  man,  but  what  light 
he  had  not  discovered.  Before  the  work  was  finished,  how 
ever,  he  obtained  and  adopted  an  hypothesis  which,  rigor 
ously  applied  to  its  peculiarities,  he  found  would  account  for, 
explain,  and  render  them  all  intelligible.  This  hypothesis 
was,  that  it  followed  the  flow  of  the  blood  at  the  time  it 
originated,  as  that  which  now  prevails  follows  the  flow  of  the 
blood ;  and  consequently,  that  the  actual  relationships  of 
human  beings  to  each  other  were  then  very  different  from 
what  they  are  now.  In  other  words,  the  reason  why  people 
called  those  their  fathers  who  would  not  be  their  fathers  now, 
was  because  they  either  were  their  fathers  or  were  undistin- 
guishable  from  their  fathers,  by  reason  of  a  common  cohabita 
tion  with  their  mothers.  The  reason  why  they  called  those 
their  mothers  who  would  not  be  their  mothers  now,  was  that 
these  mothers  were  the  wives  in  common  of  their  fathers, 
just  as  we  call  mothers-in-law  and  step-mothers  our  mothers. 
The  reason  why  they  called  them  their  brothers  and  sisters 
who  woujd  not  be  such  now,  was,  either  because  they  actu 
ally  were  such,  or  were  undistinguishable  from  them  by 
reason  of  the  common  cohabitation  of  their  parents  with 
each  other.  And  so  of  all  the  other  relationships  of  the 
system. 

170 


MORGAN'S    DISCOVERIES 

"  The  adoption  of  this  explanation  of  the  vast  body  of 
facts  which  he  had  gathered,  worked  a  complete  revolution 
in  the  mind  of  our  friend,  and  enabled  him  to  pour  a  great 
flood  of  light  upon  the  primitive  condition  of  mankind,  with 
respect  to  marriage  and  relationship,  and  all  other  things 
therewith  connected,  beyond  all  that  had  ever  been  known. 
With  this  instrument  in  his  hand,  he  now  proceeded  precisely 
as  Newton  did  with  his  hypothesis  of  gravitation,  which  gave 
him  his  grand  principle  of  ratiocination.  He  reasoned  :  If 
this  hypothesis  be  correct,  then  such  and  such  facts  will  be 
found  in  the  physical  and  stellar  worlds.  Then  he  would 
raise  his  telescope  and  look,  and  there  invariably  the  facts 
predicted  by  the  hypothesis  would  be  found.  Thus  he 
marched  through  the  physical  universe,  making  discoveries 
in  every  direction,  like  a  mighty  conqueror  subduing  and 
overrunning  and  taking  possession  of  a  hostile  country.  Pre 
cisely  in  the  same  way  our  friend  now  reasoned  from  his 
grand  generalization  and  hypothesis.  He  said  :  If  it  be 
correct,  then  such  a  fact  or  facts  I  shall  find  ;  and  he  also 
would  raise  his  mental  telescope  and  look  for  them  in  the 
past  experience  of  mankind,  where  they  were  sure  to  be 
found.  Thus  he  discovered  literally  thousands  of  new  facts, 
and  was  enabled  to  render  intelligible  thousands  previously 
known,  but  which  hitherto  had  been  inexplicable.  Thus  he 
was  enabled  to  evolve  the  conditions  of  human  society,  of  ' 
man's  relations  to  man,  where  the  darkness  of  prehistoric 
ages  had  hidden  almost  everything  from  view,  and  to  carry 
the  light  of  science  thousands  of  years  farther  back  than  it 
had  ever  been  carried  by  any  other.  In  fact,  the  origin  of 
human  society  was  thus  more  nearly  disclosed  than  it  had 
ever  been — the  origin  of  marriage,  of  kin,  of  social  organ 
ization,  of  social  and  political  institutions,  of  morality,  of 
industry,  and  of  civilization  itself.  The  germs  of  all  these 
discoveries  are  found  in  his  great  work  published  by  the 
Smithsonian  on  Consanguinity  and  Affinity,  in  which  it  is 
shown  that  the  human  race  universally  have  come  up  by  slow  / 

171 


APPENDIX    B 

progressive  steps  through  many  thousands  of  years  from  a 
state  in  which  they  lived  in  such  communal  relations  that 
parents  and  children,  brothers  and  sisters,  and  other  kinships, 
were  practically  undistinguishable,  except  in  a  general  way, 
and  in  some  particular  cases,  where  it  was  impossible  that 
they  should  be  confounded  ;  in  a  state  in  which  marriage 
between  one  man  and  one  woman  was  unknown  ;  in  a  depth 
of  degradation  which  is  absolutely  inconceivable  to  us.  But 
his  final  results  are  given  us  in  his  later  work  on  Ancient 
Society,  which  placed  him  in  the  front  rank  of  Science  in 
Archaeology,  Ethnology,  Sociology,  Anthropology,  and  Politi 
cal  Philosophy.  I  venture  to  affirm  that  hereafter  there  can 
be  no  adequate  science  in  these  departments  of  knowledge 
which  does  not  include  the  results  of  our  friend's  labors. 

"  For  in  this  work  he  has  shown  us  how  all  the  blessings 
of  morality,  liberty,  society,  industry,  and  civilization,  and 
even  all  our  free  institutions,  which  are  our  pride,  have  grown 
up  and  been  developed  through  regular  stages  from  a  few 
germs  originally  planted  in  the  soil  of  the  human  mind  far 
back  in  the  prehistoric  ages.  He  has  proved  that,  with  occa 
sional  retrocessions,  there  has  been  a  constant  growth  in  these 
respects,  so  that  it  is  no  longer  an  insoluble  problem,  as  it 
formerly  was,  how  a  people  can  pass  out  of  savagery  and  bar 
barism  into  civilization.  For  it -is  not  long  since  an  eminent 
French  savant  placed  on  record  the  statement,  '  Never  yet  has 
it  been  discovered  that  any  tribe  or  people  have,  by  their  own 
energy,  attained  to  a  civilized  state.'  That  problem  has  been 
finally  solved  by  our  friend's  labors,  and  can  never  come  back 
again  to  perplex  the  human  mind. 

"  He  has  established  also  many  other  great  and  permanent 
results,  which  can  never  again  be  called  in  question.  Among 
these  is  the  unity  of  the  human  race :  that  it  is  properly  one 
race,  one  species,  and,  no  doubt,  derived  from  one  stock.  For 
at  the  time  he  commenced  his  labors,  scientists  were  discuss 
ing  this  subject,  and  some  of  them  favored  a  diversity  of  origin 
for  mankind.  Even  the  lamented  Professor  Agassiz  was 

172 


VALUE    OF    MORGAN'S    WORK 

inclined  to  the  opinion  that  they  had  originated  at  different 
centres,  in  swarms  like  bees.  But  our  friend's  investigations 
go  farther  back  than  those  of  any  other  inquirer,  and  he  has 
established  this  truth,  that,  under  similar  conditions,  at  the  / 
same  stages  of  development,  the  human  mind  invariably  pro 
ceeds  by  similar  methods,  and  reaches  similar  results,  in  indus 
try  and  morality,  in  social  and  political  institutions,  and  in  all 
the  great  fields  of  investigation  and  research.  Thus  I  think 
he  has  contributed  more  to  the  establishment  of  a  unity  of 
species  in  the  race  than  any  other  who  has  ever  touched  the 
subject. 

"  Another  grand  result  of  his  labors  is  a  demonstration  that 
progress  is  a  fundamental  law  of  human  society,  and  one 
which  has  always  prevailed,  —  progress  in  thought  and  knowl 
edge,  in  industry,  in  morality,  in  social  organization,  in  insti 
tutions,  and  in  all  other  things  tending  to,  or  advancing, 
civilization  and  general  well-being.  He  recognized  that 
occasional  and  partial  retardations  and  backward  movements 
have  taken  place  ;  that  peculiar  circumstances  have  sometimes, 
in  some  portions  of  the  race,  frustrated  for  a  time  this  pro 
gressive  tendency  ;  but  he  has  shown  that  the  combined  and 
co-operative  energies  of  mankind  have  always  resulted  in  sub 
stantial  progress,  such  as  renders  it  certain  that  this  law  will 
always  continue  to  operate  in  the  future,  and  that  in  a  geo 
metrical  ratio.  In  fact,  he  was  accustomed  to  say  that  the 
progress  which  had  been  achieved  during  the  long  ages  of 
savagery  and  barbarism  seemed  to  him  to  be  greater  in  absolute 
amount  than  that  which  has  taken  place  during  the  compara 
tively  brief  period  of  civilization ;  and  he  anticipated  an 
immeasurable  development  in  the  future,  beyond  all  concep 
tions  that  we  are  now  able  to  form." 

In  more  formal  manner  these  studies  may  now  be  traced. 
As  early  as  1856  Morgan  had  read,  at  the  Albany  Meeting 
of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science, 
a  paper  on  The  Laws  of  Descent  of  the  Iroquois.  This 
paper  received  such  attention  that  he  was  encouraged  to  per- 


APPENDIX    B 

severe  in  this  line  of  investigation.  Being  at  Marquette  in 
1858,  he  discovered  in  conversation  with  an  Ojibwa  that  the 
Ojibwa  social  organization  was  founded  on  the  same  clan  sys 
tem  that  he  had  found  among  the  Iroquois,  and  this  although 
the  language  and  stock  were  entirely  different.  Now  for  the 
first  time  it  occurred  to  Morgan  that  the  known  instances  of 
this  system  might  not  be  the  invention  of  a  single  people,  but 
examples  of  a  widespread  and  fundamental  form  of  society. 

To  this  end  he  began  to  send  out  schedules  of  inquiry,  in 
which  he  soon  gained  the  co-operation  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institution. 

In  1871  the  work  first  referred  to  by  Dr.  Mcllvaine  was 
published  by  the  Smithsonian  Institution  as  Volume  XVII.  in 
its  series  of  Contributions  to  Knowledge,  the  book  being  en 
titled  Systems  of  Consanguinity  and  Affinity  of  the  Human 
Family,  600  -  pages  quarto.  While  this  book  is  essentially 
a  volume  of  facts,  and  only  a  brief  and  rather  unsatisfactory 
discussion  of  the  facts  was  undertaken  (Powell),  the  mere 
compilation  of  such  a  volume  marks  a  turning-point  in  the 
sciences  which  treat  of  man  as  a  social  being.  The  meaning 
of  these  facts  came  to  Morgan  gradually,  and  his  growing 
understanding  of  them  and  of  important  correlated  facts  of 
Ethnology  can  be  traced  in  a  series  of  articles  in  the  North 
American  Review  :  The  Seven  Cities  of  Cibola,  April,  1869; 
Indian  Migrations,  October,  1869,  and  January,  1870;  Mon- 
tezuma's  Dinner,  April,  1876;  The  Houses  of  the  Mound 
Builders,  July,  1876. 

It  may  be  said  with  certainty  that  a  finer  statement  of  the 
principles  and  canons  of  American  Ethnology  than  the  third- 
named  article  might  be  written,  and  with  almost  equal  cer 
tainty  that  it  never  has  been.  In  Montezuma's  Dinner 
the  romances  concerning  aboriginal  America  which  had  long 
passed  as  veritable  history  are  dissected  by  the  keen  knife  of 
a  delicious  satire.  The  living  Indian  is  placed  before  us,  and 
one  by  one  are  deftly  removed  the  European  garments  with 
which  early  writers  sought  to  cover  his  nakedness,  while  the 


MORGAN'S    WRITINGS 

gewgaws  which  modern  historians  and  romancers  have  pinned 
upon  this  apparel  fall  away  also,  and  we  see  for  the  first  time 
the  barbarian  as  he  is.  As  literature,  this  essay  is  enjoyable ; 
as  science,  it  is  indispensable. 

Morgan  had  now  reached  the  height  of  his  powers,  and  had 
solved  the  problem  to  which  his  labors  had  so  long  been 
devoted.  The  principles  sketched  in  Montezuma's  Dinner 
were  elaborately  stated  in  Ancient  Society,  published  in  1877, 
which  is  not  only  Morgan's  most  important  work,  but  also 
the  only  one  of  his  books  still  in  print. 

His  last  book,  in  which  many  of  the  achievements  of  his 
earlier  works  were  restated  in  final  form,  was  Houses  and 
House  Life  of  the  American  Aborigines,  issued  in  1881  by  the 
United  States  Geological  Survey  as  Vol.  IV.  of  Contributions 
to  North  American  Ethnology. 

Morgan's  work  in  the  domain  of  Ethnology  is  quite  com 
parable  to  that  of  Darwin  in  another  field.  By  much  the 
same  methods  and  by  a  touch  of  the  same  genius  these  great 
intellects  achieved  results  for  which  mankind  is  their  debtor 
and  which  must  be  accepted  as  the  foundations  of  the  sciences 
to  which  they  gave  their  lives.  The  parallel  holds  good  at 
the  beginning  of  their  careers.  The  Voyage  of  the  Beagle,  a 
book  of  observations,  of  suggestion,  of  beginnings,  valuable 
in  itself  and  invaluable  in  its  promise  of  the  great  discoveries 
to  come,  finds  in  these  respects  its  complete  counterpart,  and 
in  literary  merit  and  present  interest  its  superior,  in  the 
League  of  the  Iroquois. 

WRITINGS    OF    LEWIS  H.    MORGAN 
i  846.    An  Essay  on  the  Constitutional  Government  of  the  Six  Nations 

of  Indians.      Read  before  the  New  York  Historical  Society. 

Not  printed. 
1847.    Letters    on    the    Iroquois    by    Skenandoah.       The    American 

(Whig)    Review,    New    York,   February,    March,    May, 

November  and   December,    1847,  fourteen   letters  in    all. 

The  first  eleven  letters  were  reprinted  in  The  Olden  Time, 

an  Antiquarian    Magazine,  Pittsburgh,   1848. 
175 


APPENDIX    B 

1848.  Communications  (on  Indian  Art),  with  ground  plans  of 
Trench  Enclosures  or  Fort  Hills  in  Western  New  York. 
In  zd  Annual  Report  of  the  Board  of  Regents  of.  the  Uni 
versity  of  the  State  of  New  York  on  the  State  Cabinet,  etc. 

1851.  Report  upon  the  articles  furnished   to  the  Indian   Collection. 

In   3rd  do. 

Schedule  of  Iroquois  Articles  in  the  Catalogue  of  the  Cabinet 
of  Natural  History  of  the  State  of  New  York.      In  same. 

1852.  Report  on  the   Fabrics,  Inventions,  Implements   and    Utensils 

of  the  Iroquois.      In  5th  do. 

1850.  The  Fabrics  of  the  Iroquois    (same  material  as  Regents  Re 

ports  much  abbreviated).  Stryker's  American  Register  and 
Magazine,  Vol.  IV.  July,  1850.  Trenton,  N.  J. 

1851.  League    of    the    Ho-de-no-sau-nee    or    Iroquois.      Sage    and 

Brother,  Rochester.  Reprinted  1901  and  1904,  Dodd, 
Mead  and  Co.,  New  York. 

1853.  List  of  Articles  Manufactured  by  the  Indians  of  Western  New 

York   and    Canada    West.      In    Catalogue    of   Cabinet    of 
Natural   History  of  the  State  of  New  York,  Albany. 
1856.    The    Laws    of    Descent    of     the    Iroquois.       Proceedings    of 
American    Association    for   the    Advancement    of  Science, 
Vol.  XI. 

1859.  The   Indian    Method    of    Bestowing    and    Changing    Names. 

Proceedings  of  American  Association  for  the  Advancement 
of  Science,  Vol.  XIII. 

1860.  Circular   in  Reference   to  the  Degrees  of  Relationship   among 

Different  Nations.  Smithsonian  Miscellaneous  Collections, 
Vol.  II.  No.  138. 

I  86 1.  Suggestions  for  an  Ethnological  Map  of  North  America.  In 
Smithsonian  Report  for  1861.  (The  map,  closely  follow 
ing  the  lines  suggested,  was  prepared  by  Powell  and  published 
to  accompany  Bur.  Eth.,  1885-86.) 

1868,    The  American  Beaver  and  his  Works.      Philadelphia. 

1868.  A  Conjectural  Solution  of  the  Origin  of  the  Classificatory 
System  of  Relationship.  In  Proceedings  Am.  Acad.  Arts 
&  Science,  February,  1868,  Vol.  VII. 

1868.  The  Stone  and   Bone  Implements  of  the  Arickarees.      In  zist 

Annual  Report,  etc.,  on  State  Cabinet,  Albany. 

1869.  The  Seven  Cities  of  Cibola.      In  North  American  Review  for 

April,  1869. 

176 


MORGAN'S    WRITINGS 

1869-70.  Indian  Migrations.  In  North  American  Review  for 
October,  1869,  and  January,  1870.  Reprinted  in  The 
Indian  Miscellany,  edited  by  W.  W.  Beach,  Albany,  1877. 

1871.  Systems  of  Consanguinity  and  Affinity  of  the  Human  Family. 

Smithsonian  Contributions  to  Knowledge,  Vol.  XVII. 

1872.  Australian  Kinship.      Proceedings  Am.  Acad.   Arts  and   Sci 

ences,  March,  1872,  Vol.  VIII. 

1875.  Ethnical    Periods.      Proc.    Am.    Ass'n,   for   Advancement   of 

Science,  Vol.  XXIV. 

Arts  of  Subsistence.      Do. 

Articles  in  Johnson's  Cyclopedia :  Architecture  of  the 
American  Aborigines,  Migrations  of  the  American  Abo 
rigines,  Tribe. 

1876.  Montezuma's   Dinner.      In   North   American  Review,  April, 

1876. 

1876.  Houses  of  the  Mound  Builders.      In  North  American  Review, 

July,  1876. 

1877.  Ancient  Society.      Henry  Holt  &  Co.,  New  York. 

1880.  On  the  Ruins  of  a  Stone  Pueblo  on  the  Animas  River  in  New 

Mexico,  with  a  ground  plan.      In  12th   Ann.  Rept.  Pea- 

body  Museum  of  Am.  Archaeol.  &  Ethnol.,  Cambridge. 
Objects  of  an  Expedition  to  New  Mexico  and  Central  America. 

Statement    presented    to    the    Archaeological    Institute    of 

America.      March,   1880.      Boston. 
A    Study  of  the  Houses  of  the   American  Aborigines,  with  a 

scheme  of  exploration  of  the   Ruins  in  New   Mexico  and 

elsewhere.      In  ist  Ann.  Rept.  Archaeol.  Inst.  of  America, 

1880. 

1 88 1.  Houses   and    House-life  of  the   American   Aborigines,   being 

Vol.    IV.    of   U.   S.    Geological    Survey,    Contributions  to 
North  American  Ethnology,  Washington. 

Letter  in  The  Nation.      The  Hue  and  Cry  against  the  Indian, 

in  No.  577. 
Book   Reviews  in  The   Nation.       Chadbourne  on  Instinct,  in 

No.    357,  and   supplemental  note   in  No.    371.      Figuier's 

Human  Race,   in  No.  387.      Lyell's  Geological  Evidences 

of  the  Antiquity  of  Man,  in  No.  430. 

VOL.  II.— 12  i 


APPENDIX    B 

Powell  states,  in  his  sketch  of  Morgan  (Pop.  Set.  Monthly, 
December,  1880)  that  between  1840  and  1844  Morgan  wrote 
occasional  articles  for  the  Knickerbocker  Magazine  and  other 
periodicals.  None  of  these  have  been  identified. 

In  1854  Mr.  Morgan  with  others  founded  "The  Club" 
of  Rochester  (mentioned  by  Dr.  Mcllvaine  on  page  167, 
supra),  an  association  small  and  informal,  for  the  reading  and 
discussion  of  original  papers.  The  motto  of  the  Club  was 
"  Si  quid  veri  inveneris,  profer"  Its  limited  membership  in 
cluded  some  very  capable  minds,  and  to  its  members  were 
presented  and  explained  Morgan's  discoveries  and  theories  as 
they  developed  in  the  mind  of  their  author.  By  the  courtesy 
of  a  member  of  the  Club  the  following  complete  list  of  papers 
read  before  it  by  Morgan  is  presented.  Many  of  the  dates 
are  significant. 

July    19,  1854.    The  Andes. 

Nov.  13,  1854.    English  Slavery. 

Apr.    7,    1857.    Animal  Psychology. 

Feb.  23,  1858.    The  Laws  of  Descent  of  the  Iroquois. 

Apr.  25,  1858.    Res  Ratione  Regenda. 

Oct.    5,    1858.    The  Origin  and  Results  of  the  Club. 

May  1 6,  1859.    Agassiz's    Theory    of  the    Origin    of   the    Human 
Race. 

Jan.   17,    1860.    The   Indo-European   System  of  Consanguinity   and 
Relationship. 

Mar.  27,  1860.    Plan  for  an  Academy  of  Science. 

Oct.   1 6,  1860.    Beaver  Dams  and  Lodges. 

Jan.   21,    1862.    The  Migrations  of  the  Indian  Family. 

Feb.    3,    1862.    The  Migrations  of  the  Indian  Family. 

Mar.  31,  1863.     i.   The   System  of   Consanguinity   and   Affinity  of 

the  Semitic  Nations. 

2.    The    Growth   of  Nomenclature    and    Relation 
ship. 

Jan.    4,    i  864.    Iroquois  System  of  Consanguinity  and  Affinity. 

Jan.    12,  1865.    Comparison  of  the  System    of  Relationship  of  the 
Several  Families  of  Mankind. 
178 


MORGAN'S    WRITINGS 

Jan.    24,   1865.    Do. 

Jan.    23,   1866.    Architecture  of  the  Several  Stocks  of  the  American 

Aborigines. 

May    7,    1867.    Mode  of  Relieving  Rochester  from  Future  Floods. 
Sept.  29,  1868.    A  Conjectural   Solution  of  the  Origin  of  the  Classi- 

ficatory  System  of  Relationship. 
June  i,  1869.       The  Seven  Cities  of  Cibola. 
Jan.   11,   1870.    Indian  Migrations. 
Nov.   7,    1871.    Heidelberg  Castle. 
Mar.  4,    1873.    The  Totemic  System. 
Apr.    i,    1873.    Roman  Gentile  System. 
Oct.    7,    1873.    Indian  Architecture. 
Feb.   10,   1874.    Human  Progress  as  shown  by  the  Development  of 

Arts  and  Sciences. 

Nov.   9,    1875.    Aztec  Architecture. 

Oct.  31,  1876.    The  Institution  of  Grecian  Political  Society. 
Feb.    5,    1878.     Classical  Hypotheses  of  Human  Development. 
Mar.  25,  1879.    A  Pueblo  House  in  New  Mexico. 
May  i  i,  1880.    A  Study  of  the  Houses  of  the  Indian  Tribes,  with 
suggestions  for  the   Explorations   of  the  ruins  in 
New  Mexico,  Arizona,  and  the  San  Juan  region, 
Mexico  and  Central  America,  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Archaeological  Institute. 

The  number  of  copies  of  the  League  of  the  Iroquois 
originally  printed  and  the  number  of  editions  cannot  now  be 
determined. 

The  ordinary  copies  are  bound  in  black,  cloth,  and  the  map 
and  plates  are  uncolored.  A  few  copies,  probably  less  than 
twenty,  were  made  on  special  paper,  the  map  and  plates  being 
colored  by  hand.  These  had  full  gilt  edges,  and  were  bound 
in  red  morocco.  Only  one  copy  is  known  of  a  third  variety, 
bound  in  boards  with  morocco  corners  and  back,  gilt  top, 
other  edges  marble;  in  this  copy  only  the  map  and  the  two 
full-length  figures  are  colored. 

The  copy  used  in  preparing  these  notes  is  a  handsome 
specimen  of  the  second  variety.  It  was  presented  by  Mr. 
Morgan  to  his  sister  Mrs.  Charles  T.  Porter,  and  is  now  the 
property  of  her  grandson,  Charles  Talbot  Porter,  Jr. 

179 


APPENDIX    E 

The  recognized  authority  and  value  of  this  book  are  due  to 
the  work  of  Parker,  as  well  as  to  that  of  Morgan.  As  a 
sachem  Parker  had  full  knowledge  of  the  institutions  of  his 
people,  and  as  a  man  of  education  and  culture  he  had  both  the 
interest  and  the  ability  necessary  to  make  those  institutions 
known  to  civilized  man  as  no  ordinary  interpreter  could  have 
done.  Parker  was  not  merely  Morgan's  instrument,  but  his 
efficient  co-worker,  and  the  fortunate  conjunction  of  these 
minds  wrought  much  more  than  either  could  possibly  have 
accomplished  alone. 

The  friendship  of  the  two  men  was  severed  only  by  death. 
In  a  personal  letter  in  the  possession  of  the  writer,  Parker 
says,  under  date  of  December  22,  1881  :  "I  knew  the 
Hon.  L.  H.  Morgan  well,  and  was  as  much  grieved  as  any  one 
at  his  taking  off.  In  his  death  the  scientific  world  has  lost  an 
able  and  painstaking  coadjutor,  and  the  Indians  of  the  country 
a  good  friend  and  faithful  historian." 

j  .  The  Seneca  girl  shown  in  the  frontispiece  to  Vol.  II. 
I.  257  is  Miss  Caroline  G.  Parker,  General  Parker's  sister 
IL  *7  (her  name,  Ga-ha-no,  means  "  Hanging  flower  "),  and 
the  young  man  shown  in  the  frontispiece  to  Vol.  I.  is  Nichol 
son  Parker,  a  younger  brother.  Both  died  before  the  General. 
Miss  Parker  married  John  Mountpleasant,  a  Tuscarora,  and 
as  his  widow  was  still  living  on  the  Tonawanda  reservation 
when  the  Indian  Bulletin  of  the  Eleventh  Census  was  com 
pleted.  Her  name  was  then  Ge-keah-saw-sa,  "  Wild-cat," 
the  reference  being  to  her  succession  to  the  chief  woman 
of  the  Neutrals  (see  text,  I.  328,  note  i).  Her  portrait  at  that 
date  in  civilized  costume  is  shown  opposite  page  464  of  that 
Bulletin. 

She  is  there  called  "  Queen  of  the  Senecas,"  whatever  that 
means. 


182 


CHARLES   T.   PORTER 

jij  CHARLES  TALBOT  PORTER  was  born  January  18, 
I.  x»  1826,  at  Auburn,  New  York.  Like  his  friend 
Lewis  Morgan,  he  came  of  old  New  England  stock,  and 
among  his  ancestors  were  Jonathan  Edwards  and  Gover 
nors  Saltonstall  and  Winthrop.  Receiving  a  liberal  educa 
tion,  he  graduated  at  Hamilton  College  in  1845,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1847,  practising  for  a  time  in  Rochester 
and  later  in  the  City  of  New  York.  But  he  soon  deserted  the 
law  for  engineering.  His  fitness  for  his  new  vocation  was 
promptly  shown,  and  in  July,  1859,  ne  patented  his  first  form 
of  steam-engine  governor,  largely  eliminating  the  disturbing 
effect  of  friction.  Two  years  later  he  patented  a  novel  iso 
chronous  marine-engine  governor,  the  principles  of  which 
are  now  in  general  use,  and  at  the  same  time  devised  a  high 
speed  stationary  engine.  The  importance  of  this  device  may 
be  appreciated  when  it  is  stated  that  usual  speeds  of  engines 
of  the  class  which  he  improved  were  then  fifty  to  seventy- 
five  revolutions  per  minute,  and  that  they  could  not  safely  be 
driven  beyond  that  rate.  The  Porter  governor  and  the  Allen 
valve-motion  were  the  characteristics  of  the  Porter-Allen 
engine,  which  became  a  standard,  and  at  the  International 
Exhibition  in  London  in  1862  astonished  every  one  by  its 
power,  speed,  smooth  operation,  and  excellent  steam  distribu 
tion.  This  invention  lies  at  the  basis  of  modern  steam 
engineering  and  especially  of  its  use  for  the  generation  of 
electricity.  The  persistent  and  unconquerable  spirit  of  Mr. 
Porter  is  evidenced  in  the  history  of  this  long  and  ultimately 
successful  contest  with  prejudice,  adverse  interests,  and  in 
herent  difficulties  of  design,  construction,  and  operation.  He 

183 


APPENDIX    B 

spent  several  years,  1862-68,  abroad,  largely  to  introduce  his 
new  engine.  Later  he  established  it  in  this  country  and  ex 
hibited  a  new  form  of  water-tube  boiler  to  meet  the  demand 
for  safe  utilization  of  high-pressure  steam. 

In  1874  Mr.  Porter  published  a  treatise  on  the  steam- 
engine  indicator  which  is  ct  among  the  most  admirable  and 
useful  of  engineering  classics." 

In  1885  he  published  a  very  notable  philosophical  work, 
Mechanics  and  Faith ;  a  Study  of  Spiritual  Truth  in  Nature, 
a  work  in  which  the  author's  clear-sightedness,  spiritual  and 
intellectual  integrity  and  earnestness,  as  well  as  acuteness,  are 
admirably  illustrated. 

Mr.  Porter  is  an  Honorary  Member  of  the  American 
Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  of  which  he  was  one  of 
the  founders. 

In  1848  he  married  Miss  Harriette  Morgan,  sister  of  his 
intimate  friend  Lewis  H.  Morgan.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Porter 
are  residents  of  Montclair,  New  Jersey. 

ROBERT   H.  THURSTON. 


184 


NOTES 


NOTES 

HISTORY 

j6  THE  peoples  of  the  Iroquoian  stock,  so  named  from 
I-  5  its  best  known  representatives,  were  found  by  Euro 
peans  in  three  .separate  regions  of  North  America  (Bur.  Eth., 
1885-86,  Map).  In  the  mountain  district  now  included  in 
East  Tennessee,  northern  Georgia,  and  western  North  Caro 
lina  were  the  great  Cherokee  nation.  Near  the  coasts  of 
southern  Virginia  and  northern  North  Carolina  dwelt  the 
Tuscaroras  and  the  Nottoways.  All  the  other  Iroquoian 
peoples  were  found  together,  as  it  were  in  a  great  island 
of  Iroquoian  speech,  entirely  surrounded  by  Algonquians. 
The  centre  of  this  island  was  at  Niagara  in  the  country  of  the 
Neutrals,  who  extended  from  western  New  York  along 
the  north  shore  of  Lake  Erie.  North  of  the  Neutrals  the 
Tionnontates  (Tobacco  Nation)  and  the  Hurons  occupied 
the  country  between  Lake  Ontario  and  Lake  Huron.  To 
the  southeast  in  the  Susquehanna  valley  were  the  Conestogas, 
also  called  Andastes  and  Susquehannocks.  The  Eries  held 
the  south  shore  of  the  lake  now  called  by  their  name. 
Finally,  through  central  New  York,  bounded  west  by  the 
Eries  and  Neutrals,  south  by  the  Conestogas,  and  southeast, 
east,  and  north  by  Algonquian  tribes,  stretched  the  five  nations 
of  the  Iroquois. 

Thus  dwelt  the  Iroquoians  at  the  opening  of  the  seven 
teenth  century.  Seventy  years  earlier  some  of  their  tribes 
not  certainly  identified  had  held  both  banks  of  the  St.  Law 
rence  from  Ontario  to  the  ocean,  as  well  as  both  shores  of 
Lake  Champlain.  So  much  and  little  more  is  certain. 

187 


APPENDIX    B 

For  the  origin  and  early  home  of  the  Iroquoians  and  for 
their  history  prior  to  the  seventeenth  century  we  have  no 
records  and  must  depend  upon  tradition  and  conjecture. 
No  general  agreement  has  been  reached,  but  the  weight 
of  evidence  supports  the  story  contained  in  the  following 
paragraphs. 

The  valleys  drained  by  the  Columbia  and  the  rivers  of 
Puget  Sound  were  the  early  home  of  many  of  the  Indian 
stocks,  and  from  this  country  the  Iroquoians  took  their  way 
east  not  less  than  ten  centuries  ago.  They  were  then  a  fish- 
eating  people,  nomadic  and  ignorant  of  agriculture.  Some 
where  in  the  Mississippi  valley  they  acquired  this  art,  and 
changing  their  basis  of  subsistence  learned  to  build  permanent 
villages.  Here  the  Cherokees  separated  from  the  main  stem, 
the  others  continuing  together  for  a  long  time.  This  first 
sedentary  home  of  the  Iroquoians  has  been  variously  located 
on  the  St.  Lawrence,  on  Lake  Superior,  on  Lake  Ontario, 
and  in  the  Tuscarora  country  above  .  mentioned.  It  may 
be  said  that  the  northern  and  southern  locations  are  alike 
improbable,  and  that  —  unless  we  place  them  in  New  York 
itself —  the  upper  Ohio  valley,  the  region  of  the  Allegany, 
Monongahela,  and  Kanawha,  is  the  most  likely  locality.  Here 
too  was  perhaps  the  early  home  of  the  Siouan  stock  (Mooney, 
Siouan  Tribes  of  the  East*),  whose  close  connection  with  the 
Iroquois  Mr.  Morgan  always  maintained.  In  this  home 
their  numbers  grew,  and  the  tribes  swarmed  into  their  historic 
sites  in  Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  and  Canada. 

Now  turning  more  particularly  to  the  five  tribes  of  the 
League,  it  appears  that  the  Onondagas,  Oneidas,  and  Mo 
hawks,  in  association  with  the  Hurons,  moved  eastward 
through  the  country  north  of  Lakes  Erie  and  Ontario, 
while  the  Cayugas  and  Senecas,  with  their  near  kin  the  Eries, 
17  were  occupying  the  southern  shores  of  these  lakes. 

1.5,11  Of  the  northern  division  the  Onondagas  were  the 
first  to  enter  New  York,  turning  southerly  at  the  east  end  of 
Lake  Ontario.  The  Mohawks  were  then  becoming  a  great 

1 88 


EARLY    HISTORY 

people.  They  had  begun  their  tribal  existence  as  a  Huron 
phratry  upon  a  fishing  expedition,  pressing  on  in  advance  of 
their  kin  to  the  lower  St.  Lawrence.  Quebec  was  for  some 
time  their  chief  town.  Probably  they  were  the  people  whom 
Jacques  Cartier  found  there.  Their  Huron  kindred  built 
Hochelaga  on  the  island  of  Montreal.  Between  these  related 
tribes  arose  jealousy  and  finally  war.  The  Mohawks  drove 
the  Hurons  from  Hochelaga  and  built  their  capital  there. 
This  was  the  height  of  Mohawk  power.  Apparently  they 
held  the  country  from  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence  to 
the  headwaters  of  the  Mohawk.  From  their  capital  at  Mon 
treal  they  controlled  the  great  river  down  to  Gaspe.  Vermont 
and  the  Adirondacks  were  their  hunting-grounds,  and  their 
outlying  dependency  the  Oneidas  had  for  some  time  had  a 
permanent  town  in  New  York.  Thus  the  Onondagas  had 
come  in  touch  with  the  Oneidas  on  the  east,  and  with  the 
Cayugas  on  the  west,  both  of  them  tribes  of  their  own  race, 
language,  and  institutions,  and  both  few  and  feeble  compared 
with  Onondaga.  It  was  to  the  interest  of  all  to  maintain 
peace,  and  with  the  Oneidas  Onondaga  had  probably  been  in 
alliance  before  either  tribe  reached  its  historic  seat.  Numerous 
councils  gradually  drew  the  bonds  tighter  until  at  length  a 
formal  alliance  grew  up,  to  which  the  Senecas,  as  fathers  of  the 
Cayugas,  soon  became  a  party.  This  League  of  the  four  nations 
may  have  existed  as  early  as  1450  (see  I.  1 14  and  note  89). 

18  Beginning  in  a  hunter's  quarrel,  a  war  broke  out  in 
I-  5  the  North  in  1550  or  a  little  later.  The  widely 
extended  Mohawk  people  was  suddenly  and  violently  attacked 
by  the  whole  line  of  Algonquian  tribes  as  well  as  by  the 
Hurons.  The  fact  that  the  Mohawks  were  an  agricultural 
people  extended  far  along  the  St.  Lawrence  made  them  as 
vulnerable  as  they  found  the  French  a  century  later.  If  at 
the  same  time  a  succession  of  crop  failures  fell  upon  them,  as 
Lafitau  relates  of  their  Quebec  settlement,  and  as  happened 
later  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  they  had  good  reason  to  retreat. 
Some  of  their  towns  —  perhaps  Oneida  itself —  were  nearly  de- 

189 


APPENDIX    B 

stroyed ;  others,  including  several  of  the  St.  Lawrence  settle 
ments,  may  have  been  entirely  wiped  out,  and  many  of  their 
people  slain  or  incorporated  with  the  Hurons  or  Algonquians. 
The  remnant  of  the  Mohawks  proper  fell  back  upon  their 
Oneida  kindred  in  New  York,  and  were  soon  received  into  the 
League,  which  now  acquired  a  more  formal  constitution  and 
more  definite  obligations.  The  date  of  this  comple 
tion  of  the  League  was  not  far  from  1570.  There  is 
little  doubt  that  the  Mohawks  did  not  enter  New  York  till  about 
that  time,  nor  that  the  League  of  Five  Nations  was  formed 
after  all  the  tribes  had  entered  the  State.  It  should  neverthe 
less  be  stated  that  Mr.  Morgan  and  Mr.  Horatio  Hale,  two 
most  eminent  authorities,  were  firm  in  the  belief  that  the 
League  as  it  existed  in  historic  times  was  constituted  not  later 
than  1459.  The  views  expressed  in  the  text,  however,  that 
the  League  was  established  by  a  single  act  of  conscious  legis 
lation  were  at  once  combated  by  Mr.  Francis  Parkman  (Chris 
tian  Examiner,  May,  1851),  who  said  :  "The  divided  Iroquois, 
harassed  by  the  attacks  of  enemies  or  threatened  with  a  general 

*  o 

inroad,  might  have  been  led  to  see  the  advantages  of  a  league, 
and  to  effect  that  end  the  most  simple  and  obvious  course 
would  have  been  that  the  sachems  of  all  the  nations  should 
unite  in  a  com-mon  council.  When  this  had  been  done,  when 
a  few  functionaries  had  been  appointed  and  certain  necessary 
regulations  established,  the  league  would  have  found  itself, 
without  any  very  elaborate  legislation,  in  the  condition  in 
which  it  stood  at  the  time  of  its  highest  prosperity."  To 
these  views  Morgan  assents  in  his  last  word  upon  the  subject 
(Houses,  27). 

19  It  is,  to  say  the  least,  improbable  that  the  Iroquois 
I-  5  ever  lived  as  one  small  nation  at  or  near  Montreal. 
The  Mohawks  held  that  territory,  and  the  Oneidas  and  Onon- 
dagas  may  have  tarried  on  the  St.  Lawrence  for  a  time,  but 
they  were  there  as  separate  tribes,  not  as  one,  and  the  Senecas 
and  Cayugas  probably  never  dwelt  on  the  river  at  all.  Be 
this  as  it  may,  the  Iroquois  were  not  taught  agriculture  there, 
nor  by  the  Adirondacks.  The  Adirondacks  did  not  possess 

190 


EARLY    HISTORY 

this  art,  but  were  mere  hunters  and  fishers  of  the  wilderness. 
Their  very  name  means  "  tree-eaters,"  and  was  given  to  them 
by  the  Iroquois  in  contempt  for  their  famine  diet  of  buds  and 
bark,  to  which,  having  no  stores  of  corn,  they  were  in  winter 
.sometimes  reduced.  (Lafitau,  III.  84).  Nor  was  the  St. 
Lawrence  valley,  where  the  corn  crop  often  failed, 

L  I53    the  place  where  a  people  would  shift  from  fish  to  corn 

as  a  means  of  subsistence.      Mr.  Morgan's  own  point  of  view  is 

different  on   page  191  of  Vol.  L,  where   he  says  that 

L  I?I  the  Iroquois  had  cultivated  corn  and  other  plants  from 
a  remote  period.  While  many  of  the  Algonquian  tribes  and 
most  of  the  Siouan  were  non-agricultural,  all  the  Iroquoians 
tilled  the  soil.  Probably  they  acquired  this  art  before  their 
separation.  The  tradition  that  they  learned  husbandry  from 
an  Algonquian  tribe  is  very  likely  correct,  and  the  teachers 
may  have  been  the  Illinois,  the  Powhatans,  or  even  those 
Otawas  known  as  the  "  Cheveux-Releves." 

It  would  seem  that  the  northern  Iroquoians  since  reaching 
the  agricultural  basis  have  not  lived  in  a  materially  milder  or 
colder  climate  than  that  of  their  historic  home.  All  their 
usages  were  adapted  to  a  land  of  warm  summers  and  severe 
winters.  Their  corn  itself  was  of  a  harder  artd  earlier  ripen 
ing  variety  than  that  of  their  Delaware  neighbors.  (Loskiel, 
84.)  Yet  even  this  often  failed  to  ripen  on  the  St.  Lawrence. 

20  When  the  Iroquois  entered  New  York,  they  seem  to 
I-  6     have   found  an   unoccupied   land,   nor  has  much  evi 
dence  been  discovered  of  previous  occupation.      (Beauchamp, 
Aboriginal  Occupation  of  N.  T.) 

21  It  is  now  agreed  upon  that  Jacques  Cartier  found  Iro- 
I.  9      quoians    at   Quebec    and   even    at    Gaspe,    and    most 

writers  think  that  the  people  of  Hochelaga,  the  palisaded  town 
which  he  found  on  the  site  of  Montreal,  were  Mohawks, 
though  it  is  quite  possible,  as  above  suggested,  that  Hochelaga 
was  a  Huron  town,  and  that  the  Quebec  people  were  Mo 
hawks.  Ramusio's  picture  of  Hochelaga,  showing  its  houses, 
its  defences,  and  its  cornfields  is  reproduced  on  page  32  of 

191 


APPENDIX    B 

Winsor's  Cartier  to  Frontenac,  and,  whether  Mohawk  or  Huron, 
is  certainly  Iroquoian,  and  may  be  compared  with  Champlain's 
picture  of  the  Onondaga  fort  attacked  by  him  in  1615,  which 
picture  is  reproduced  by  Winsor  on  page  119  of  the  same 
work. 

While  the  Adirondacks  did  not  themselves  raise  corn,  they 
pointed  out  to  the  French,  in  1636,  the  abandoned  cornfields 
of  the  Mohawks  along  the  St.  Lawrence. 

22  Champlain's  fight  was  not  on  Lake  George,  nor  did 
I.  10     he  reach  Lake   George.      That   honor   was   reserved 

for  Isaac  Jogues,  first  of  white  men.  Cham  plain  progressed 
as  far  as  the  rapids  in  the  Lake  George  outlet,  and  the  battle 
was  just  north  of  this  and  close  to  Ticonderoga.  He  locates 
the  spot  himself:  "The  place  where  this  battle  was  fought  is 
43  degrees  some  minutes  latitude,  and  I  named  it  Lake  Cham- 
plain  "  (Doc.  Hist.  N.  T.,  III.  9).  Morgan  was  misled  by 
careless  reading  of  Charlevoix. 

Not  satisfied  with  irritating  the  Mohawks,  Champlain 
joined,  in  1615,3  Huron  expedition  against  another  Iroquois 
tribe,  but  the  attack  on  their  fortified  town  was  repulsed, 
Champlain  himself  being  wounded.  The  locality  of  this 
battle  has  also  been  established.  Champlain's  itinerary  and 
his  sketch  of  the  town  have  been  studied  many  times,  but  in 
1877  General  John  S.  Clark,  by  as  fine  an  example  of  archae 
ological  work  as  has  been  recorded,  demonstrated  that  the 
fortified  town  attacked  by  Champlain  stood  on  the  banks  of 
Nichols  Pond,  a  small  and  shallow  body  of  water  in  the 
town  of  Fenner.  This  demonstration  is  accepted  by  Morgan 
(Houses,  124),  Parkman  (Pioneers,  403)  and  Winsor  (Cartier, 
117),  and  must  be  regarded  as  final.  Dr.  Beauchamp  (Abo 
riginal  Occupation,  88)  says  this  site  was  in  Oneida  territory, 
not  in  Onondaga  as  had  usually  been  supposed.  This  would 
indicate  that  the  Mohawks  and  Oneidas  rather  than  the 
Upper  Iroquois  were  still  the  object  of  Huron  enmity. 

23  The  debt  of  the  Dutch  and  English  of  New  York  to 
I-  12     the  Iroquois  has  been  recognized,  but  the  debt  of  the 

192 


FRIENDS    TO    NEW    ENGLAND 

English  of  New  England  is  usually  overlooked.  Not  only  did 
the  Mohawks  stand  between  New  England  and  Canada  like  a 
wall  of  fire  against  French  and  Indian  attacks,  but  time  and 
again  they  helped  the  settlers  to  overcome  their  own  Indian 
neighbors.  A  few  quotations  may  be  given  :  — 

"  This  Sassacouse  (ye  Pequents  cheefe  sachem)  being  fled 
(1637)  to  ye  Mowhakes,  they  cutt  of  his  head,  with  some 
other  of  ye  cheefe  of  them,  whether  to  satisfie  ye  English 
...  or  for  their  owne  advantage,  I  well  know  not ;  but  thus 
this  warr  tooke  end."  (Bradford's  History  of  Plimoth  Planta 
tion,  430.) 

"  In  November  and  December  [1675]  Phillip  and  other 
Indyans,  about  a  thousand  in  two  party's  armed  went  up  into 
the  country  and  came  within  about  forty  miles  of  Albany.  — 

"  The  Governor  —  the  River  opening  unexpected  the  be 
ginning  of  ffebruary  —  tooke  ye  first  opportunity  to  goe  up 
with  an  additionall  force  &  six  sloops  to  Albany,  and  found  att 
his  arrivall  aboutt  three  hundred  Maquaas  [Mohawks]  Souldiers 
in  towne,  returned  ye  evening  afore  from  ye  pursuite  of  Philip 
and  a  party  of  five  hundred  with  him,  whome  they  had  beaten, 
having  some  prisoners  &  the  crowns,  or  hayre  and  skinne  of 
the  head,  of  others  that  they  had  killed."  (N.  T.  Col.  Docs., 

HI.  255.) 

"  When  you  had  Wars  some  time  ago  with  the  Indians,  you 
desired  us  to  help  you  ;  we  did  it  readily  ;  and  to  the  Purpose ; 
for  we  pursued  them  closely,  by  which  we  prevented  the 
Effusion  of  much  of  your  Blood.  This  was  a  certain  Sign 
that  we  loved  truly  and  sincerely  and  from  our  Hearts." 
(Tahajadoris,  a  Mohawk  Sachem,  to  the  Agents  of  the  New 
England  Colonies,  September  24,  1689.  Colden,  I.  108.) 

u  In  the  year  1677,  September  19,  between  Sun-set  and 
dark,  the  Indians  came  upon  us —  I  yielded  myself —  and  was 
ied  away.  —  Here  were  the  Indians  quite  out  of  all  fear  of  the 
English ;  but  in  great  fear  of  the  Mohawks."  (Quintin  Stock- 
well,  Story  of  his  Captivity  after  the  attack  on  Hatfield,  Hart, 
American  History  told  by  Contemporaries,  I.  501.) 

VOL.  ii.  — 13  193 


APPENDIX    B 

24  The  name  of  Garangula  looks  like  an  Iroquois  word, 
I-  17     but    Parkman   amusingly    explains    its    origin:     "He 

was  a  famous  Onondaga  orator  named  Otreouati,  and  called 
also  Big  Mouth,  whether  by  reason  of  the  dimensions  of 
that  feature  or  the  greatness  of  the  wisdom  that  issued 
from  it.  [Perhaps  he  was  the  sachem  Ho-sa-ha-ho.]  His 
contemporary,  Baron  La  Hontan,  thinking  perhaps  that  his 
French  name  of  La  Grande  Gueule  was  wanting  in  dignity, 
Latinized  it  into  Grangula ;  and  the  Scotchman,  Golden, 
afterwards  improved  it  into  Garangula,  under  which  high- 
sounding  appellation  Big  Mouth  has  descended  to  posterity. 
He  was  an  astute  old  savage,  well  trained  in  the  arts  of  the 
Iroquois  rhetoric,  and  gifted  with  the  power  of  strong  and 
caustic  sarcasm,  which  has  marked  more  than  one  of  the  chief 
orators  of  the  Confederacy."  (Frontenac,  95.) 

25  Fronfenac  had   1,700   French  and  500  Indians  when 
I-  20     he    marched     against    the     Onondagas   (Lamberville, 

Affairs  of  Canada  in  1696,  65  J.  R.,  24).  Their  town  of 
Onondaga  had  stood  for  fourteen  years  when  Frontenac  found 
it  (Letter  of  Lamberville,  62  J.  R.,  54),  and  as  it  was  full  time 
to  remove  to  another  site,  it  was  not  worth  defending.  The 
Onondagas  therefore  burnt  the  town  themselves  (Doc.  Hist. 
N.  K,  I.  332)  and  the  French  found  only  the  smoking  ruins. 
All  that  the  Onondagas  really  lost  was  their  standing  crops, 
and  these  would  have  been  sacrificed  if  the  town  had  been 
defended.  For  its  location  see  Dr.  Beauchamp's  note,  51 
J.  R.,  294. 

26  After    the   year    1700    the   four    western    tribes  took 
I-  20     little   part   in  the  wars  between   France  and  England, 

the  Senecas  in  fact  inclining  at  times  to  the  French  side.  The 
Mohawks  alone  continued  active  in  the  English  alliance,  and 
were  engaged  in  most  of  the  fighting  on  the  New  York  bor 
der,  particularly  in  the  battle  of  Lake  George,  September, 
1755,  where  their  chief,  "  King  Hendrick,"  was  among  the 
killed.  Also  at  Niagara  in  July,  1759,  Sir  William  Johnson 
had  Iroquois  aid. 

194 


THE    AMERICAN    REVOLUTION 

27  In  Pontiac's  war  strong  efforts  were  made  to  induce 
II-  85  the  Iroquois  to  join  the  alliance  of  Indian  against 
Englishman,  and  "  had  not  the  Six  Nations  been  kept  tranquil 
by  the  exertions  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  the  most  disastrous 
results  must  have  ensued.  The  Senecas  and  a  few  of  the 
Cayugas  were  the  only  members  of  the  Confederacy  who 
took  part  in  the  War."  (Parkman,  Pontiac,  II.  29.) 

2g  When  the  American  Revolution  began,  the  League 
I.  26,  was  at  first  ready  to  remain  neutral,  and,  in  fact, 

108  neutrality  was  urged  upon  the  Iroquois  by  Sir  John 
Johnson  the  Tory,  as  well  as  by  Philip  Schuyler  on  the  part 
of  the  patriots.  The  responsibility  for  the  introduction  of 
the  tomahawk  and  the  scalping-knife  into  the  conflict  rests 
directly  upon  the  British  ministry.  When  the  Iroquois  were 
forced  from  their  neutral  position,  the  King's  cause  was  the 
natural  one.  The  alliances,  nearly  two  centuries  old,  had 
been  made  in  his  name,  and  in  his  name  the  presents  had 
been  given  and  redress  for  wrongs  administered.  The  injuries 
which  had  come  to  the  Indians,  on  the  other  hand,  were  never 
done  in  the  royal  name,  but  were  the  work  of  individuals, 
most  of  whom  took  the  American  side.  Finally,  the  British 
had  the  great  influence  of  the  family  and  official  successors 
of  Sir  William  Johnson.  Three  men,  Skenandoah,  Thomas 
Spencer,  and  Samuel  Kirkland  the  missionary,  held  the 
Oneidas  in  the  American  interest ;  otherwise  the  united  war 
riors  of  the  League  would  have  fallen  upon  the  Americans. 

At  Onondaga  in  January,  1777,  the  ancient  council-fire  of 
the  Six  Nations  was  extinguished,  seemingly  not  without 
bloodshed.  The  Senecas  and  Cayugas  openly  and  unitedly 
espoused  the  cause  of  the  King  ;  the  Mohawks  and  Onondagas 
were  divided,  some  for  the  King,  some  neutral.  The  Oneidas 
and  Tuscaroras  endeavored  to  remain  neutral,  but  many  of 
them  were  soon  actively  engaged  on  the  American  side. 
These  allies  gave  much  aid  to  the  patriots  in  the  border  wars 
of  the  Revolution  and  suffered  greatly  inconsequence.  Their 
faithful  friendship  and  assistance  were  formally  and  gratefully 

'95 


APPENDIX    B 

recognized  by  the  United  States  by  Treaty  proclaimed  Jan 
uary  21,  1795.  If  the  League  had  been  unanimous  under  its 
ancient  laws  in  making  war  upon  the  Americans,  it  is  quite 
likely  that  Burgoyne's  campaign  would  have  been  a  British 
triumph  and  that  the  war  would  have  ended  in  the  success 
of  the  royal  arms. 

I.  27  °n  the  °ther  hand'  if  the  League  had  espoused  the 
American  cause  or  had  remained  neutral,  it  would 
have  been  both  difficult  and  unjust  to  take  from  them  an  inch 
of  their  territory  at  the  end  of  the  war,  and  the  settlement  of 
the  West,  the  opening  of  the  Erie  Canal,  and  all  the  develop 
ment  of  the  Empire  State  and  its  chief  city  would  have  been 
long  postponed,  even  if  commerce  and  empire  had  not  been 
diverted  into  other  channels.  Any  attempt  at  the  settlement 
of  the  country  while  still  under  Indian  rule  would  have  pro 
duced  an  unendurable  state  of  affairs,  much  worse  than  any 
Transvaal  problem. 

29      Being    abandoned    by    the    British    government,    the 

I-  172    Iroquois  had  at  the  end  of  the  Revolution  no  defence 

except   the  generosity  and   prudence  of  the  American  people. 

Fortunately    the   just    and    sagacious  counsel   of  Washington 

prevailed  :  — 

"  My  ideas,  therefore,  of  the  line  of  conduct  proper  to  be 
observed,  not  only  towards  the  Indians  but  for  the  government 
of  the  citizens  of  America,  in  their  settlement  of  the  western 
country,  which  is  intimately  connected  therewith,  are  simply 
these. 

"First,  and  as  a  preliminary,  that  all  prisoners,  of  whatever 
age  or  sex,  among  the  Indians,  shall  be  delivered  up. 

u  That  the  Indians  should  be  informed  that,  after  a  contest 
of  eight  years  for  the  sovereignty  of  this  country,  Great 
Britain  has  ceded  all  the  lands  to  the  United  States  within 
the  limits  described  by  the  article  of  the  provisional  treaty. 

"That  as  they  (the  Indians)  maugre  all  the  advice  and 
admonition  that  could  be  given  them  at  the  commencement 
and  during  the  prosecution  of  the  war,  could  not  be  restrained 

196 


WASHINGTON'S    POLICY 

from  acts  of  hostility,  but  were  determined  to  join  their  arms 
to  those  of  Great  Britain  and  to  share  their  fortunes,  so 
consequently,  with  a  less  generous  people  than  Americans, 
they  would  be  made  to  share  the  same  fate,  and  be  compelled 
to  retire  along  with  them  beyond  the  Lakes.  But:,  as  we 
prefer  peace  to  a  state  of  warfare ;  as  we  consider  them  as  a 
deluded  people  ;  as  we  persuade  ourselves  that  they  are  con 
vinced,  from  experience,  of  their  error  in  taking  up  the  hatchet 
against  us,  and  that  their  true  interest  and  safety  must  now 
depend  upon  our  friendship;  as  the  country  is  large  enough  to 
contain  us  all ;  and  as  we  are  disposed  to  be  kind  to  them  and 
to  partake  of  their  trade,  we  will,  from  these  considerations 
and  from  motives  of  compassion,  draw  a  veil  over  what  is 
past,  and  establish  a  boundary  line  between  them  and  us, 
beyond  which  we  will  endeavor  to  restrain  our  people  from 
hunting  or  settling,  and  within  which  they  shall  not  come  but 
for  the  purposes  of  trading,  treating,  or  other  business 
unexceptionable  in  its  nature. 

"  In  establishing  this  line,  in  the  first  instance,  care  should 
be  taken  neither  to  yield  nor  to  grasp  at  too  much ;  but  to 
endeavor  to  impress  the  Indians  with  an  idea  of  the  generosity 
of  our  disposition  to  accommodate  them,  and  of  the  necessity 
we  are  under,  of  providing  for  our  warriors,  our  young  people 
who  are  growing  up,  and  strangers  who  are  coming  from 
other  countries  to  live  among  us;  and  if  they  should  make  a 
point  of  it,  or  appear  dissatisfied  with  the  line  we  may  find  it 
necessary  to  establish,  compensation  should  be  made  to  them 
for  their  claims  within  it. 

"  It  is  needless  for  me  to  express  more  explicitly,  because  the 
tendency  of  my  observations  evinces  it  is  my  opinion,  that,  if 
the  legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York  should  insist  upon 
expelling  the  Six  Nations  from  all  the  country  they  inhabited 
previous  to  the  war,  within  their  territory,  as  General  Schuyler 
seems  to  be  apprehensive,  it  will  end  in  another  Indian  war. 
I  have  every  reason  to  believe  from  my  inquiries,  and  the 
information  I  have  received,  that  they  will  not  suffer  their 

197 


APPENDIX    B 

country  (if  it  were  our  policy  to  take  it  before  we  could  settle 
it)  to  be  wrested  from  them  without  another  struggle.  That 
they  would  compromise  for  a  part  of  it,  I  have  very  little 
doubt ;  and  that  it  would  be  the  cheapest  way  of  coming  at  it, 
I  have  *no  doubt  at  all.  The  same  observations,  I  am  per 
suaded,  will  hold  good  with  respect  to  Virginia,  or  any  other 
State,  which  has  powerful  tribes  of  Indians  on  its  frontiers; 
and  the  reason  of  my  mentioning  New  York  is  because  Gen 
eral  Schuyler  has  expressed  his  opinion  of  the  temper  of  its 
legislature,  and  because  I  have  been  more  in  the  way  of  learn 
ing  the  sentiments  of  the  Six  Nations  on  the  subject,  than  of 
any  other  tribes  of  Indians. 

"  The  limits  being  sufficiently  extensive,  in  the  new  country, 
to  comply  with  all  the  engagements  of  government,  and  to 
admit  such  emigrations  as  may  be  supposed  to  happen  within 
a  given  time,  not  only  from  the  several  States  of  the  Union 
but  from  foreign  countries,  and,  moreover,  of  such  magnitude 
as  to  form  a  distinct  and  proper  government  ;  a  proclamation, 
in  my  opinion,  should  issue,  making  it  felony  (if  there  is  power 
for  the  purpose,  if  not,  imposing  some  very  heavy  restraint) 
for  any  person  to  survey  or  settle  beyond  the  line ;  and  the 
officers  commanding  the  frontier  garrisons  should  have  pointed 
and  peremptory  orders  to  see  that  the  proclamation  is  carried 
into  effect. 

"Measures  of  this  sort  would  not  only  obtain  peace  from  the 
Indians,  but  would,  in  my  opinion,  be  the  surest  means  of 
preserving  it  ;  and  would  dispose  of  the  land  to  the  best 
advantage,  people  the  country  progressively  and  check  land 
jobbing  and  monopolizing,  which  are  now  going  forward  with 
great  avidity,  while  the  door  would  be  open  and  the  terms 
known  for  every  one  to  obtain  what  is  proper  and  reasonable 
for  himself,  upon  legal  and  constitutional  ground. 

"Every  advantage,  that  could  be  expected  or  even  wished 
for,  would  result  from  such  a  mode  of  procedure.  Our 
settlements  would  be  compact,  government  well  established 
and  our  barrier  formidable,  not  only  for  ourselves  but  against 

198 


OGDEN    LAND    COMPANY 

our  neighbors  ;  and  the  Indians,  as  has  been  observed  in 
General  Schuyler's  letter,  will  ever  retreat  as  our  settlements 
advance  upon  them,  and  they  will  be  as  ready  to  sell  as  we 
are  to  buy.  That  it  is  the  cheapest,  as  well  as  the  least  dis 
tressing  way  of  dealing  with  them,  none,  who  is  acquainted 
with  the  nature  of  Indian  warfare,  and  has  ever  been  at  the 
trouble  of  estimating  the  expense  of  one,  and  comparing  it 
with  the  cost  of  purchasing  their  lands,  will  hesitate  to 
acknowledge."  (Washington  to  Duane,  7  September,  1783.) 

In  pursuit  of  this  enlightened  policy  a  treaty  was  made  at 
Fort  Stanwix  October  22,  1784,  by  which  the  United  States 
gave  peace  to  the  Senecas,  Mohawks,  Onondagas,  and  Cayu- 
gas  (the  Oneidas  and  Tuscaroras  not  having  made  war),  and 
the  Six  Nations  yielded  all  their  lands  west  of  New  York 
State.  Their  lands  within  the  State  were  yielded  by  succes 
sive  treaties  until  at  Big  Tree  (now  Genesee),  September  15, 
1797,  nearly  all  western  New  York  passed  to  white  control. 

There  were  no  further  hostilities  between  the  United  States 
and  the  Iroquois  within  its  borders.  On  the  contrary,  the 
Senecas  in  1812  fought  under  the  American  flag  against  the 
British  soldiers  and  even  against  the  Canada  Mohawks  allied 
with  the  British.  Again  in  the  Civil  War  the  New  York 
Iroquois  furnished  their  full  quota  and  more  to  the  Union 
Army. 

The   case   of  the    Senecas   against   the   Ogden   Land 
II.  121   Company,  in  which  Morgan  took  so  warm  an  interest, 

*•  3I  rests  on  a  complicated  series  of  facts.  Under  the 
grant  from  James  I.  to  Plymouth  Colony,  Massachusetts 
claimed  a  large  part  of  western  New  York.  This  claim 
was  adjusted  between  the  two  States  at  Hartford,  Connecticut, 
December  16,  1786.  By  this  compact  Massachusetts  ceded 
to  New  York  the  right  of  u  government,  sovereignty,  and  juris 
diction  "  over  the  whole  territory  in  dispute,  and  New  York 
ceded  to  Massachusetts  "  the  right  of  pre-emption  of  the  soil 
of  the  native  Indians"  and  all  other  estate,  except  of  sover 
eignty  and  jurisdiction,  in  a  tract  of  about  six  million  acres, 

199 


APPENDIX    B 

which  included  all  of  the  State  of  New  York  lying  west  of 
Seneca  Lake,  and  is  now  divided  into  fourteen  counties. 
The  rights  of  Massachusetts  to  a  large  part  of  these  lands 
were  subsequently  acquired  by  the  Ogden  Land  Company,  an 
unincorporated  association,  which  secured  by  somewhat  ques 
tionable  means  grants  in  the  form  of  treaties  from  the  Senecas 
in  1826  and  1838,  that  of  the  last-named  year  purporting  to 
give  up  all  the  lands  of  the  Senecas  in  New  York.  This 
treaty  was  not  assented  to  by  the  Seneca  chiefs  in  council,  al 
though  a  number  of  them  signed  as  individuals.  As  to  these 
signatures  President  Van  Buren  said,  in  a  message  to  the  Sen 
ate,  "  That  improper  means  have  been  employed  to  obtain 
the  assent  of  the  Seneca  chiefs,  there  is  every  reason  to 
believe,"  yet  the  Senate  ratified  the  treaty.  The  Indians  and 
their  friends  still  endeavored  to  have  it  set  aside,  and  finally  a 
compromise  was  reached  by  which  the  Allegany  and  Catta- 
raugus  reservations  were  restored,  still  subject  to  the  pre-emp 
tion  right,  but  the  Tonawanda  band  of  Senecas  were  left 
homeless. 

Morgan  wrote  at  the  time:  "The  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  by  a  resolution  passed  June  n,  1838, 
committed  a  great  act  of  injustice  upon  the  Seneca  Indians,  un 
intentionally,  no  doubt ;  and  prepared  the  way  for  their  total 
extirpation.  This  resolution  abrogated  their  unanimity  prin 
ciple,  by  authorizing  a  majority  of  their  chiefs  to  make  a 
treaty  with  the  Ogden  Land  Company,  for  the  sale  of  their 
lands  in  western  New  York.  In  December  of  that  year 
this  vigilant  company  forced  a  treaty  upon  the  Senecas,  under 
very  questionable  circumstances.  It  was  well  known  that 
fifteen-sixteenths  of  the  people,  almost  the  entire  nation,  were 
unwilling  to  sell ;  yet  the  company,  having  a  resolution  of  the 
Senate  under  which  to  shelter  themselves,  procured  by  their 
own  efforts,  now  resorted  to  the  quick  and  only  expedient 
of  purchasing  the  votes  of  a  majority  of  the  chiefs.  The 
proceedings  by  which  this  end  was  finally  accomplished  were 
utterly  objectionable,  as  is  abundantly  proved  by  printed  docu- 

200 


OGDEN    LAND    COMPANY 

ments,  now  before  the  Senate.  There  were  eighty-one  chiefs, 
placing  the  three  classes  of  chiefs  upon  a  level  ;  and  but  forty- 
one  needed  to  the  treaty.  It  is  represented  that  $200,000 
were  set  apart  as  the  means  of  negotiation ;  that  to  ten  chiefs 
they  paid  $30,000  in  bribes ;  that  others  were  plied  with 
rum  until  intoxicated,  and  then  made  to  sign  ;  that  still  others 
were  made  chiefs  by  a  sham  election,  and  their  signatures  then 
taken  ;  while  yet  others  signed  the  treaty  as  chiefs  who  were 
not  so  in  fact.  Several  days  were  consumed  in  perfecting 
the  work,  and  the  desired  majority  was  obtained.  After  a 
long  and  angry  controversy,  in  which  the  red-men  struggled 
in  vain  for  justice,  the  Senate  finally  ratified  it  by  the  casting 
vote  of  the  Vice-President.  The  Indians  refused  to  own  the 
treaty,  and  the  government  were  unwilling  to  execute  it. 
A  compromise,  in  1842,  was  effected,  by  which  two  reserva 
tions  were  released  from  the  operation  of  the  treaty,  on  condi 
tions  that  the  Indians  would  sacrifice  the  other  two.  The 
Tonawanda  and  Buffalo  reserves  were  thus  sold  a  second  time. 
The  Tonawanda  Band,  never  having  signed  either  treaty, 
still  refused  to  deliver  possession  ;  and  it  is  a  question  yet  to 
be  decided,  whether  the  Tonawanda  Senecas  shall  be  deprived 
of  their  homes,  without  their  consent,  or  without  an  equivalent 
paid.  The  land  is  worth  on  an  average  $16  per  acre,  and 
the  treaty  allows  them  $1.67."  (Skenandoah,  Letters  on  the 
Iroquois,  p.  247  note.)  The  citizens  of  western  New  York 
espoused  the  cause  of  the  Indians,  and  at  a  general  convention 
of  the  people  of  Genesee  County  held  at  Batavia,  March  21, 
1846,  Lewis  H.  Morgan  was  deputed  to  carry  to  Washington 
the  memorial  which  the  convention  had  adopted.  By  his 
influence  and  that  of  his  associates  a  settlement  was  finally 
arrived  at  by  which  the  Tonawandas  bought  back  7,547 
acres,  being  their  present  reservation.  The  pre-emption  claim 
of  the  Ogden  Land  Company  to  the  Allegany  and  Cattaraugus 
reservations  still  exists.  A  legislative  committee  recommended 
in  1889  that  this  pre-emption  right  be  extinguished.  Its 
extinction  would  seem  to  be  necessary  before  the  lands  can  be 

201 


APPENDIX    B 

allotted  to  the  Indians  in  several  ownership.  For  the  history 
of  the  claim  see  the  opinion  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  in  Seneca 
Nation  vs.  Christie,  126  N.  T.  122,  Indian  Problem,  and  The 
Claim  of  the  Ogden  Land  Company,  a  pamphlet  prepared  some 
years  ago  by  Mr.  W.  H.  Samson,  of  Rochester,  at  the  request 
of  the  Senecas,  for  use  in  Congress  to  defeat  a  project  to 
compel  the  Indians  to  buy  the  Company's  claim. 

3!       For  the   life  and   achievements   of  William  Johnson 

II-  85    See   Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  Halsey,    The  Old 

New  York  Frontier,  and   Life  of  Sir  William  ^Johnson  by  Stone. 

32  It   is  stated   that  Johnson,  the   religious  teacher,  died 
I.  221    in  1850. 

33  Governor  Blacksnake  died  September  9,  1859,  at  the 
I-  70  reported  age  of  117  years. 

34  It  is  still  true  that  there  is  no  connected  history  de- 
I-'4  voted  entirely  to  the  League,  but  its  history  down  to 

the  Revolution  is  to  be  found  in  the  pages  of  Parkman,  while 
Stone's  Lives  of  Johnson  and  Brant  bring  down  the  detailed 
narrative  to  the  fall  of  the  League  as  a  political  and  military 
power.  Halsey's  The  Old  New  York  Frontier  gives,  of  course 
in  briefer  form,  the  whole  story  of  the  rise,  progress,  and 
decline  of  the  Iroquois  state. 

35  While  neither  the  Dutch  of  New  Netherland  nor  the 
I.  22     English  of  New  York  showed  the  glowing  zeal  for 

the  conversion  of  the  Indians  that  animated  the  breasts  of 
Eliot  in  New  England  and  the  Jesuits  in  New  France,  the 
Iroquois  were  by  no  means  "  entirely  neglected."  The  names 
of  Megapolensis  the  Albany  Dominie,  Kirkland  the  Mission 
ary  to  the  Oneidas,  and  Zeisberger.the  Moravian  are  perhaps 
the  most  conspicuous,  but  many  others  might  be  named. 

36  Squier's   Antiquities  of  New    York   and  the    West   was 
II.  5,  12  published  in  1851,  the  same  year  as  the   League.      At 

one  time  Squier  had  supposed  the  western  New  York  re 
mains  to  be  the  work  of  the  so-called  Mound-Builders,  but 
in  this  work  (p.  140)  he  expressed  a  different  opinion:  "In 
full  view  of  the  facts  before  presented,  I  am  driven  to  a  con- 

202 


JOSEPH    BRANT 

elusion  little  anticipated  when  I  started  upon  my  exploration 
of  the  monuments  of  the  State,  that  the  earthworks  of  Western 
New  York  were  erected  by  the  Iroquois  or  their  western  neigh 
bors,  and  do  not  possess  an  antiquity  going  very  far  back  of 
the  discovery." 

Beauchamp's  Aboriginal  Occupation  expresses  the  same 
views,  which  are  generally  accepted.  No  distinction  of  race 
between  the  so-called  Mound-Builders  and  the  other  aboriginal 
Americans  is  now  recognized. 

Joseph  Brant  (Thayendanegea),  a  Canajoharie  Mo- 
I.  70,  hawk  chief,  of  the  Wolf  clan,  was  born  in  what  is 
98  now  Ohio  in  1742,  and  died  in  Canada  in  1807.  His 
life  was  one  of  incessant  and  varied  activity.  From  his  youth 
he  was  a  protege  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  who  secured  him  an 
English  education.  His  sister,  the  celebrated  Molly  Brant, 
was  Johnson's  housekeeper  and  bore  him  several  children. 
At  the  opening  of  the  Revolution  Brant  had  become  a  power 
among  the  Mohawks,  and  with  the  Johnsons  took  the 
King's  side.  In  the  border  warfare  that  followed  he  was  the 
most  prominent  figure.  The  poet  Campbell  in  Gertrude  of 
Wyoming  says  that  Brant  was  the  moving  spirit  in  the  Wyo 
ming  massacre  and  also  that  he  was  a  monster.  But  both 
these  statements  are  now  believed  to  be  inaccurate.  Brant 
was  at  Cherry  Valley,  but  on  that  day,  as  throughout  the  war, 
he  showed  himself  an  honorable  warrior,  not  a  murderer. 
Happy  the  captive  settler  or  settler's  wife  who  fell  into  the 
hands  of  Brant  and  his  Mohawks.  More  cruel  were  the- 
Senecas,  and  the  Tories  were  "  more  savage  than  the  savages 
themselves."  After  the  war  Brant  secured  for  his  ruined 
people  a  home  in  Canada,  and  was  active  in  all  the  negotia 
tions  of  the  British  and  American  governments  with  the 
Indian  tribes.  Twice  in  his  life  he  visited  England,  where  he 
was  at  home  in  the  best  society  of  the  time.  Brant  translated 
the  Prayer-book  and  portions  of  the  Scriptures  into  the 
Mohawk  tongue.  W.  L.  Stone's  Life  of  Brant  is  an  im 
portant  work. 

203 


APPENDIX    B 

38      "  It    is   worthy    of    remembrance    that    the    Iroquois 

I-  58  commended  to  our  forefathers  a  union  of  the  colo 
nies  similar  to  their  own  as  early  as  1755.  They  saw  in  the 
common  interests  and  common  speech  of  the  several  colonies 
the  elements  for  a  confederation,  which  was  as  far  as  their 
vision  was  able  to  penetrate."  (Houses,  p.  32.) 

On  the  other  hand  Franklin's  plan  of  union,  which  was 
the  beginning  of  our  own  federal  republic,  was  directly  in 
spired  by  the  wisdom,  durability,  and  inherent  strength  which 
he  had  observed  in  the  Iroquois  constitution.  Under  the 
Articles  of  Confederation  we  managed  our  affairs  for  a  dozen 
years  very  much  on  the  Iroquois  plan,  and  it  must  be  con 
fessed  were  not  quite  as  apt  in  execution  and  in  administrative 
wisdom  as  our  barbarian  predecessors. 

When  the  colonies  became  the  United  States,  the  Iroquois 
recognized  the  similarity  of  the  League  to  their  own,  and  gave 
to  the  new  nation  the  name  of  The  Thirteen  Fires. 

gg       Morgan    modified    this    in    Houses,  p.    34,    to    "  they 
I-  78     never   fell    into   anarchy   nor   ruptured    the   organiza 
tion."      There    was   at    times   much   dissension    and    jealousy 
between  the  tribes,  and  more  than  once  actual  hostilities  were 
narrowly  averted. 

40       "  The  career  of  the  Iroquois  was  simply  terrific. 
II.  107  "  Taking  the  part  of  the  English  in  the  wars  against 
the  French,  they  shook  all  Canada  with  the  fear  of  their  arms. 

"  They  were  the  scourge  of  God  upon  the  aborigines  of  the 
continent,  and  were  themselves  used  up  stock,  lash  and  snap 
per,  in  the  tremendous  flagellation  which  was  administered 
through  them  to  almost  every  branch,  in  turn,  of  the  great 
Algonquin  family.  It  will  not  do  to  say  that  but  for  the 
Iroquois  the  settlement  of  the  country  by  the  whites  would 
not  have  taken  place ;  yet  assuredly  the  settlement  would 
have  been  longer  delayed  and  have  been  finally  accomplished 
with  far  greater  expense  of  blood  and  treasure,  had  not  the 
Six  Nations,  not  knowing  what  they  did,  gone  before  in 
savage  blindness  and  fury  destroying  or  driving  out  tribe 

204 


INDIAN    TRAILS 

after  tribe  which  with  them  might  for  more  than  a  gen 
eration  at  least  have  stayed  the  western  course  of  European 
invasion."  (Francis  A.  Walker,  North  Amer.  Rev.)  April, 


GEOGRAPHY 

4!       THAT  magnificent  tract    known  as  the   Adirondack 
I.  44     Wilderness  yet  remains   in   practically  the  same  con 
dition  as  when   the  Iroquois   trod    its    sombre   depths.      Here 
are    still    found    the    trails    which    the    Iroquois    used.      The 
engineer  who   ran   them   may   well    have   been   the   red    man, 
but  in   many   cases   the  deer  and   the  bear  trod   them   before 
even  he.      These   pathways,  hammered  deep  into  the  soil  by 
many  centuries  of  hurrying  feet   passing  in  what  we  still  call 
Indian  file,  to-day  thread  the  eternal  forest  marked   only  by 
the    beaten    track  and   the   fading  blazes    on   the    tree-trunks. 
As  an  alternative  to  this  blazing  with  the  hatchet,  the 
Indian    in    many   places   marked    the    road    by    twigs 
broken  by  the  traveller's  hand.      This  could  be  done  without 
falling  out  of  step. 

II.  80,    Morgan's  appellation  of  "  well-beaten  footpath"  was 
94-       merited  at  least  by  the  main  trail  which  ran  by  town 
and  town  from  the  Hudson  to  Lake  Erie,  for  the  Jesuit  writers 
more  than  two  centuries  ago   called   it  "The  Beaten   Road," 
and  over  these  roads  the  Indian  travellers  made  regularly  thirty 
or  forty  miles    a   day.      The   domestic    peace  which   prevailed 
through  the  Iroquois  territories  made  them  a  region  of  travel 
on  the  highways.      (See  Judges,  V.  6.)      Both  in  peace 
and   war  the   Iroquois   were  a  travelling   people,  and 
whether  trading,  hunting,  fishing,  OP  going  on   hostile  expedi 
tions,  or  simply  as  travellers  for  pleasure   or  visitors  to  their 
kindred,  they  were  constantly  in  motion  on   the    roads  which 
traversed  the  territories  of  the  Five  Confederate  Tribes.     They 
have  the  same  characteristic  to-day.      Of  all  these  journeyings 

205 


APPENDIX    B 

Onondaga,  the  centre  and  capital  of  the  Confederacy,  was 
naturally  the  most  visited  point.  Says  a  Jesuit  Father  in 
1656  :  "Our  situation  in  the  centre  of  these  nations  is  most 
advantageous  for  the  conversion  of  the  savages,  not  only 
because  the  missions  can  easily  be  sent  thence  into  the  neigh 
boring  provinces,  but  also  because  of  the  great  concourse  of 
travellers  who  keep  the  place  full  of  people  all  the  time." 
(Relation  of  1656-57,  44  J.  ^.,46.) 

Not  every  trail  was  open  to  all  the  world.  It  required,  as 
it  requires  to-day,  experience  to  follow  the  windings  and  fork- 
ings  of  a  forest  path,  and  for  purposes  of  war  and  trade  many 
routes  were  intentionally  concealed.  Of  all  the  Indian  peoples 
the  Iroquois  were  among  the  earliest  to  recognize  the  impor 
tance  of  good  roads  ;  and  from  treaty  speeches  it  would  ap 
pear  that  the  trails  were  at  times  cleared  and  repaired,  the 
swamps  corduroyed  and  the  streams  bridged,  or  at  least  that 
the  idea  of  such  improvements  was  not  inconceivable  by 
their  minds. 

The  following  notes  on  the  Peculiarities  of  Footpaths  are  not 
irrelevant.  The  work  cited  is  Drummond's  Tropical  Africa. 

"  Footpaths  are  what  roads  are  not,  natural  productions, 
just  as  the  paths  made  by  hares,  deer,  and  elephants  are.  No 
one  really  makes  a  footpath ;  that  is,  no  one  improves  it. 
What  is  true  of  Central  Africa  is  true  of  England.  'The 
native  paths,'  wrote  Prof.  Drummond,  c  are  the  same  in  char 
acter  all  over  Africa, '  (he  has  previously  mentioned  that  you 
are  almost  never  c  off'  one  of  these  paths.)  l  They  are  veri 
table  footpaths,  trodden  as  hard  as  adamant,  and  rutted  beneath 
the  level  of  the  forest  by  centuries  of  native  traffic.  As  a 
rule,  these  footpaths  are  marvellously  direct.  Like  the  roads 
of  the  old  Romans,  they  run  straight  on  through  everything, 
—  ridge  and  mountain  and  valley,  —  never  shying  at  obstacles 
nor  anywhere  turning  aside  to  breathe.  Yet  within  this  gen 
eral  straightforwardness  there  is  a  singular  eccentricity  and 
indirectness  in  detail.  Although  the  African  footpath  is,  on 
the  whole,  a  bee  line,  no  fifty  yards  of  it  are  ever  straight. 

206 


INDIAN    TRAILS 

And  the  reason  is  not  far  to  seek.  If  a  stone  is  encountered 
no  native  will  ever  think  of  removing  it.  Why  should  he  ? 
It  is  easier  to  walk  round  it.  The  next  man  who  comes  by 
will  do  the  same.  He  knows  that  a  hundred  men  are  fol 
lowing  him ;  he  looks  at  the  stone ;  a  moment,  and  it  might 
be  unearthed  and  tossed  aside ;  but  no,  he  holds  on  his  way. 
It  would  no  more  occur  to  him  that  that  stone  is  a  displace- 
able  object  than  that  felspar  belongs  to  the  orthoclase  variety. 
Generations  and  generations  of  men  have  passed  that  stone, 
and  it  still  waits  for  a  man  with  an  altruistic  idea.'  This  is, 
perhaps,  the  locus  classicus  on  the  true  inwardness  of  foot 
paths."  (The  [London]  Spectator,  August  3,  1901.) 

42  The  map  used  by  Mr.  Morgan  as  a  basis  for  his  de 
ll.  106  lineation  of  the  Iroquois  trails  contains,  unfortunately, 
many  geographical  errors.  Thus  Lake  George  is  shown  as 
emptying  into  the  Hudson,  and  the  upper  Sacandaga,  being 
connected  with  the  Cayadutta,  becomes  a  tributary  of  the 
Mohawk.  In  fact,  the  whole  Adirondack  region  is  almost 
II.  84  unrecognizable.  Some  of  the  trails  shown  are  prob- 

L  44  ably  of  more  recent  date  than  that  given  of  1720. 
Thus  the  trail  diverging  to  Johnstown,  shown  on  Mr. 
Morgan's  map  and  mentioned  in  the  text,  was  hardly  more 
ancient  than  Sir  William  Johnson's  residence  there  (1763). 

Dr.  Beauchamp  says,  in  letters  to  the  editor  :  "  I  do  not 
think  it  possible  accurately  to  lay  down  the  trails,  for  every 
fresh  removal  and  settlement  made  a  difference.  Morgan 
omitted  many,  and  wisely  put  down  those  of  which  he  was 
certain  ;  but  the  Moravian  Journals  make  it  evident  that  some 
of  these  were  not  those  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago. 
His  map  and  description,  however,  should  appear  as  he  left 
them. 

"In  1650  and  earlier,  as  well  as  later,  the  trail  left  the 
Mohawk  near  Canajoharie,  and  struck  over  the  hills  to  the 
vicinity  of  Munnsville,  Madison  County,  and  thence  to 
the  town  of  Pompey.  In  1750  the  trail  from  Onondaga 
to  Cayuga  touched  the  foot  of  Skeneateles  and  Owasco  lakes. 
It  was  usual  to  cross  Cayuga  Lake  south  of  Union  Springs, 
but  Morgan  had  no  means  of  knowing  all  this."  "  It  is 

207 


APPENDIX    B 

demonstrable  that  in  1750,  excepting  one  on  the  Susque- 
hanna,  all  the  Tuscarora  villages  were  on  or  near  the  Hne  of 
the  New  York  Central  Railroad.  This  appears  from  the 
Moravian  Journals  which  have  not  been  published."  "  Indian 
Castle,  Danube,  was  a  very  modern  village,  a  long  way  west 
of  the  early  towns." 

Romer's  map,  dated  1700,  shows  the  first  Mohawk  Castle 
on  the  north  bank  of  the  river,  but  the  trail  on  the  south 
bank  is  the  only  one  shown.  West  of  the  third  Castle  this 
trail  turns  to  the  southwest,  and  crosses  the  Susquehanna 
some  twenty  miles  south  of  the  Mohawk,  and  then  passing 
just  north  of  Otsego  Lake,  goes  straight  west  to  Oneida. 
From  Oneida  (Utica)  another  trail  is  shown  leading  north  to 
the  site  of  Rome,  while  the  main  trail  goes  forty  miles  west  to 
Onondaga.  From  Onondaga  there  is  a  trail  fifteen  miles 
west  and  north  to  Cananda  (perhaps  Onondaga)  Lake,  and 
one  twenty  miles  northeast  to  Sachnawarage. 

There  is  presented  herewith,  by  permission  of  the  State 
Museum,  a  copy  of  the  map  prepared  by  Dr.  Beauchamp  for 
the  Museum  Bulletin  No.  32,  on  the  Aboriginal  Occupation 
of  New  York.  On  pages  14  and  15  of  this  Bulletin  Dr. 
Beauchamp  quotes  the  text,  and  says  :  "  Those  familiar  with 
Mr.  L.  H.  Morgan's  map  of  Ho-de-no-sau-nee-ga,  or  the 
territory  of  the  people  of  the  Long  House  after  their  con 
quests,  will  observe  that  the  boundaries  on  the  small  map 
showing  national  distribution  differ  somewhat  from  his,  partly 
from  showing  an  earlier  condition,  but  for  other  reasons  as 
well." 

u  Mr.  Morgan,  however,  forgot  that  irregular  ridges 
instead  of  streams,  sometimes  become  boundaries, 
though  straight  lines  might  be  carried  along  or  over  these. 
Another  matter  was  overlooked,  that  national  boundaries 
changed  from  time  to  time  by  mutual  agreement.  Aside  from 
conquest  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  this.  In  1654  and  later,  the 
foot  of  Oneida  Lake  was  certainly  in  the  territory  of  the 
Onondagas,  their  village  there  being  well  known  for  fifty  years. 
Yet  at  a  later  day  the  Oneidas  not  only  held  the  lake,  but 
reserved  a  fishing  place  on  its  outlet,  three  miles  below. 

208 


ROADS    TO    CANADA 

Deep  Spring  was  certainly  on  the  line  between  the  Oneidas 
and  Onondagas  after  the  Revolution,  but  it  is  almost  as  evi 
dent  that  the  Onondagas  at  one  time  owned  Cazenovia  Lake 
and  its  outlet.  Mr.  Morgan  himself  divided  Cross  Lake  by 
the  eastern  line  of  the  Cayugas,  while  the  Onondagas  had 
clearings  west  of  it.  He  also  placed  Sodus  Bay,  well  known 
as  the  Bay  of  the  Cayugas,  in  the  Seneca  territory.  The 
Cayugas  themselves  at  one  time  had  villages  north  of  Lake 
Ontario,  and  on  the  Susquehanna  at  a  later  day." 

The  western  Iroquois  went  to  Canada  usually  by 
Lake  Ontario  and  the  St.  Lawrence.  The  Mohawks 
and  Oneidas  kept  further  east,  and  appear  to  have  had  at  least 
five  roads  to  Montreal.  The  favorite  one,  because  it  involved 
only  two  or  three  days'  land  travel,  was  by  way  of  Lake 
George  (which  was  reached  by  various  routes ;  sometimes 
via  the  Sacandaga,  sometimes  via  Schenectady  and  the  Hudson) 
and  Lake  Champlain ;  but  when  the  season  was  stormy  or 
they  wished  to  avoid  observation,  they  took  a  route  west  of 
the  Adirondacks,  which  after  eight  or  ten  days  of  tramping 
brought  them  to  the  Oswegatchie  and  so  to  the  St.  Lawrence. 
Another  road  to  the  St.  Lawrence  was  by  the  Fulton  chain  of 
lakes,  Racquette  and  Long  Lakes  and  the  Racquette  River. 

Having  reached  the  Racquette,  they  could  either  continue 
down  the  river  to  the  St.  Lawrence  or  pass  to  the  Saranacs 
and  Lake  Champlain  by  what  is  still  called  the  Indian  carry. 
There  is  evidence  of  another  route  to  Long  Lake  and  the 
country  beyond  via  Lake  Pleasant,  Whittaker  Lake,  and  the 
Indian  Lake,  but  whether  Lake  Pleasant  was  usually  reached 
from  the  south  or  from  the  west  does  not  appear. 

4-       (Ska-hase-ga-o.)  u  This   word   is   rendered  Place  of  a 

I.  306  long  creek  now  dry.      Anciently  there  was  a  large  and 

n>  92  populous   Seneca   village   in   this   vicinity,  situated  on 

the  Honeoye  creek,  a  short  distance  west  from  Mendon,  on  a 

bend    in    the    stream.      It    is    well    remembered    among    the 

Senecas  under  the  name  of  Ga-o-sai-ga-o,  which  is  translated 

In  a  bass-wood  country.  [Beauchamp,  says  in  Victor,  not  Mendon] 

VOL.  u. —  14  209 


APPENDIX    B 


"In  1792  vestiges  of  at  least  seventy  houses,  or  Ga-no- 
so-do,  were  to  be  seen  at  the  place  designated.  Although 
it  had  been  deserted  for  a  long  period,  rows  of  corn  hills  still 
indicated  the  places  which  had  been  subjected  to  cultivation. 
There  was  an  opening  of  about  two  thousand  acres  upon  the 
creek,  in  the  midst  of  which  the  village  was  situated.  Exten 
sive  burial  grounds  in  the  vicinity,  from  which  gun  barrels, 
tomahawks,  beads,  crosses,  and  other  articles  have  been  dis 
interred,  tend  to  show  a  modern  occupation,  while  the  sitting 
posture  in  which  some  of  the  skeletons  are  found  indicates  a 
very  ancient  occupation."  (Skenandoah,  p.  488.) 

44      Table  exhibiting  the  principal   points  on  the  trail  of 

I.  45     the    Iroquois    from   Albany   to  Niagara    which    were 

n-  93    known  to  the   immigrants  who   flocked   into  western 

New    York    between     1790    and    1800.       At   most   of   these 

places  taverns  were  erected,  which,  it   will   be  observed,  were 

chiefly   upon    the    ancient    trail,   then   the   only    road    opened 

through  the  forest.     The  distances  from   point  to  point  are 

also  given. 

Miles 
Foster's   ...<,...        5 

Morehouse's 6 

Keeler's  or  Danforth's       .      .        5 
Carpenter's    ......      15 

Buck's 3 

Goodrich' s g 

Huggins' 

Cayuga  Bridge 

Seneca      

Geneva 

Amsden's 

Wells' 

Sandburn's  (Canandaigua) 
Sear's  and  Peck's     , 


Miles 

Albany 

McKown's  Tavern      ...  5 

Imax's 7 

Schenectady 4 

Groat's 12 

John  Fonda's 12 


Conally's 

Roseboom's  Ferry  (Canajo- 

harie)         

Hudson's  (Indian  Castle) 
Aldridge's  (Germ.  Flats) 

Bray  ton's 

Utica  (Fort  Schuyler) 
Whitestown        .... 
Laird's  Tavern 
Oneida  Castle    .... 

Wemp's 

John  Denna's     .... 


...      13 

Genesee  River 14 

Tonawanda  (Ind.  village)       .      40 

Niagara j}5 

Total  Distance 310 

(Skenandoah,  p.  489.) 


210 


SACHEMSHIPS 


GEOGRAPHICAL    NAMES 

THE  following  spellings  and  significations  are  commu 
nicated  by  Mrs.   Harriet  Maxwell  Converse  on  the 
authority  of  her  father,  Thomas  Maxwell,  (who  was  the   son 
of  Guy  Maxwell,  the   adopted   brother   of  Red  Jacket,)  and 
of  General  Parker. 

n    I2      Ga-web-no-geh.      Cawenisque.      At  the  Big  Island. 
132,  '  Ne-ah-ga.    Pronounced  by  Red  Jacket  O-ne-au-ga-ra. 
133      Skwe-do-wa.    Ski-an-do-wa.    The  Great  (Corn)  fields. 
Ga-nun-da-gwa.     Canandaqua.     Chosen  town.     Ga-nun-da- 
a-ga.    At  the  new  town. 

Ga-ka-to.     The  Delaware  name  of  the  Chemung  was  Ka- 
nungwa,  Horn  in  the  water. 

II.  134,  Ga-wa-no-wa-na-neh.    Susquesaha'na.     Crooked  river. 
136      Cbe-gwa-ga.      The    stream    or   waterfall    at    Havana 
(now    Montour    Falls),    Schuyler    County,    was    called    She- 
gwaw-ga,  Trembling  waters. 
II.  138,  Ot-se-go.      Clear  water. 
J39      Do-tea-ga.      Breaking. 
De-o-na-sa-de-o.      Heaping  sando 


SACHEMSHIPS 

46  IN  the  following  list  the  Seneca  names  with  their 
I-  59  meanings  are  Morgan's,  corrected  by  himself,  the 
clans  being  supplied  from  other  sources  in  cases  where  Morgan 
did  not  state  them.  The  Mohawk  names  and  significations 
are  from  a  manuscript  of  E.  S.  Parker  evidently  founded  on 
Hale.  In  the  column  of  remarks  are  given  variant  statements 
by  Chadwick,  Hale,  and  Parker. 

The  following  table  shows  distribution  of  the  sachem- 
ships  by  tribes  and   clans,   Morgan's    account    being 
accepted  :  — 

211 


APPENDIX    B 


Mohawk        Oneida       Onondaga       Cayuga 


Bear 

3 

3 

3 

Wolf 

3 

3 

i 

Turtle 

3 

3 

5 

Beaver 

0 

0 

i 

Deer 

0 

0 

3 

Snipe 

o 

o 

i 

Heron 

o 

o 

o 

Hawk 

o 

0 

o 

Eel 

0 

0 

0 

Ball 

0 

0 

0 

Seneca 

i 
I 

2 
O 

o 
3 


Total 


Total 

12 

9 


4 
6 

2 
I 
O 
O 

5° 


Assuming  the  Seneca  division  of  phratries  as  original,  the 
Sachems  are  divided,  37  to  the  First  Phratry,  and  only  13  to 
the  Second  ;  but  as  the  Mohawks  and  Oneidas  had  no  repre 
sentatives  of  the  Second  Phratry  only  the  three  Western 
tribes  should  be  compared,  giving  19  to  the  First  and  13  to 
the  Second. 

MOHAWK    SACHEMS 


I.    TURTLE 


2.    TURTLE 


3.     TURTLE 


WOLF 


5.    WOLF 


6.     WOLF 


7.    BEAR 


BEAR 


9.    BEAR 


SENECA  NAMES 
Da-ga-e-o-ga 

(Neutral) 

Ha-yo-went-ha 

(Man  who  combs) 
Da-ga-no-we-da 

(Inexhaustible) 
So-a-e-wa-ah 

(Small  speech) 
Da-yo-ho-go 

(At  the  forks) 
O-a-a-go-wa 

(At  the  great  river) 
Da-an-no-ga-e-neh 

(Dragging  his  horns) 
Sa-da-ga-e-wa-deh 

( Even-tempered) 

Has-da-weh-se-ont-ha 
(Hanging  up  rattles) 


MOHAWK  NAMES 
Tehkarihhoken 

(Between  two  state 
ments) 
Hayenwatha 

(Seeks  the  wampum) 
Shadekarihwade 

(Two  things  equal) 
Sharenhhowane 

(Great  tree  top) 
Tehyonheghkwen 

(Double  life) 
Owenheghkohna 

(Wide  branches) 
Tehhennaghkarihne 

(Going  with  two  horns) 
Shaghskoharcwane         All 

(Great  wood  drift) 


REMARKS 
(Double  speech) 
C. 


(Loftiest  tree)  C. 

(i.  e.  Tenacious 

of  life. ) 
(High  hill)  C. 


Aghstawenseronttha 
(Puts  on  the  rattles) 


but  Morgan 
make  this  the  9th 
sachemship. 
All  but  Morgan 
make  this  the 
8th  sachemship. 
(Holding  the  rat 
tles)  C. 


212 


LIST    OF    SACHEMS 


ONEIDA    SACHEMS 


10.    WOLF 

Ho-das-ha-teh 

Odatseghdeh 

(Bearing  a  burden) 

(Bearing  a  quiver) 

II.    WOLF 

Ga-no-gweh-yo-do 

Kahnonkwenyah 

(Covered  with  cat-tail 

(Setting  up  ears  of               See  II.  30. 

down) 

•    corn  in  a  row) 

12.    WOLF 

Da-yo-ha-gwen-da 

Tehyohhakwendeh 

(Opening  through  the 

(Open  voice) 

woods) 

13.    TURTLE 

So-no-sase 

Shononghseseh 

(A  long  string) 

(His  long  house) 

14.    TURTLE 

To-no-a-ga-o 

Thonaeghkenah 

(Man    with    a    head 

(Two  branches) 

ache) 

15.    TURTLE 

Ha-de-a-dun-nent-ha 

Hahtyadonnentha 

(Swallowing  himself) 

(He  slides  himself  down) 

16.     BEAR 

Da-wa-da-o-da-yo 

Tehwahtahontenyonk 

(Place  of  the  echo) 

(Two  hanging  ears) 

17.     BEAR 

Ga-ne-a  -dus-ha-yeh 

Kahnyadaghshayen 

(War    club     on    the 

(Easy  throat) 

ground) 

1  8.     BEAR 

Ho-wus-ha-da-o 

Honwatshadonneh               TURTLE  C. 

(Steaming  himself) 

(He  is  buried) 

ONONDAGA 

SACHEMS 

19.    BEAR 

To-do-da-ho 

Wathadotarho                     DEER  C. 

(Tangled) 

(Entangled) 

20.     BEAVER 

To-nes-sa-ah 

Onehseaghhen 

(Best  soil  uppermost) 

21.    BEAR 

Da-at-ga-dose 

Tehhatkahdons              BEAVER   C.    &    H. 

(On  the  watch) 

(On  the  watch)          (Two-sighted,  i.  e. 

vigilant)  C. 

22.    SNIPE 

Ga-nea-da-je-wake 

Skaniadajiwak 

(Bitter  body) 

(Bitter  throat) 

23.    TURTLE 

Ah-wa-ga-yat 

Aweakenyat                        BALL  C. 

(The      end     of    its 

journey) 

24.    TURTLE 

Da-a-yat-gwa-e 

Tehayatkwayen                   (Red  wings)  C. 

(On  his  body) 

25.    WOLF 

Ho-no-we-na-to 

Hononwirehdonh 

(He  sunk  out  of  sight) 

26.     DEER 

Ga-wa-na-san-do 

Kawenenseaghtonh 

(Voice  suspended) 

27.    DEEK 

Ha-e-ho 

Hahhihhonh                        (Spilled)  C. 

(Scattered) 

213 

APPENDIX    B 


i8. 

TURTLE 

Ho-yo-ne-a-ne 

Hohyunhnyennih 

EEL    H.    HAWK 

C. 

29. 

BEAR 

Sa-da-kwa-seh 

Shotehgwaseh 

EEL  C.  &  H. 

(He  is  bruised) 

30. 

DEER 

Sa-go-ga-ha 

Shahkohkenneh 

TURTLE  C.,  EEL 

(Having  a  glimpse) 

(He  saw  them,  now 

H. 

others) 

31- 

TURTLE 

Ho-sa-ha-ho 

Sahhahih 

(Large  mouth) 

(  Wearing  a  hatchet 

in  his  belt) 

32- 

TURTLE 

Ska-no-wun-de 

Skahnahwahtih 

(Over  the  creek) 

(Over  the  creek) 

CAYUGA 

SACHEMS 

33- 

DI:ER 

Da-ga-a-yo 

Tahkahenhyunh 

BEAR  C. 

(Man  frightened) 

(Looks  both  ways) 

34- 

HERON 

Da-je-no-da-weh-o 

Jihnontahwehhen 

DEER  H.,  BALL 

(Coming  on  its  knees) 

C. 

35- 

BEAR 

Ga-da-gwa-sa 

Kahtahgwahjih 

(It  was  bruised) 

36. 

BEAR 

So-yo-wase 

Shonyunhwesh 

(  Has  a  long  wampum 

belt) 

37- 

TURTLE 

Ha-de-as-yo-no 

Hahtyahsenhneh 

(He     puts    one    on 

another) 

38. 

WOLF 

Da-yo-o-yo-go 

Tehyuhenhyunhkoh 

(It  touches  the  sky) 

39- 

TURTLE 

Jote-ho-weh-ko 

Tehyuhtohwehgwih 

WOLF  C.  &  H. 

(Very  cold) 

(Doubly  cold) 

40. 

HERON 

De-a-wate-ho 

Tyawenhhehthonh 

WOLF  H.,  SNIPE 

(Mossy  place) 

C. 

41. 

SNIPK 

To-da-e-ho 

Hahtonhtahhehhah 

(Crowding  himself  in) 

42. 

SNIPE 

Des-ga-heh 

Teshkahhea 

BEAR  C. 

(Resting  on  it) 

SENECA    SACHEMS 

43.  TURTLE         Ga-ne-o-di-yo  Skahnyahteihyuh  WOLF  H. 

(Handsome  lake)  (Beautiful  lake) 

44.  SNIPE  Sa-da-ga-o-yase  Shahtehkahenhhyesh 

(Level  heavens)  (Skies  of  equal  length) 

45.  TURTLE         Gan-no-gi-e  Kahnohkaih  4?th  Sachem  H. 

(Threatened)  &  C. 

46.  HAWK  Sa-geh-jo-wa  Shakenjohnah 

(Great  forehead)  (Large  forehead) 

214 


ASSISTANT    SACHEMS 

47.  BEAR  Sa-de-a-no-wus  .    Sahtyehnahwaht  45th  Sachem  H. 

(Assistant)  (Withheld)  &C.  SNIPE  C. 

48.  SNIPK  Nis-ha-ne-a-nent  Nishahyehnenhah  BEAR  H. 

(Falling  day)  (The  day  fell  down) 

49.  SNIPE  Ga-no-go-e-da-we  Kanonhkehihtawih  BEAR  H. 

(Hair  burned  off)  (One  who  burns  the 

hair) 

50.  WOLF  Do-ne-ho-ga-weh  Tyuhninhohkawenh 

(Open  door)  (Open  door) 

47  Actually  there  were  but  forty-eight  sachems,  as  Hayo- 
I.  59, 106  wentha  and  Daganoweda  had  no  successors.  As  a 
mark  of  respect  their  places  remained  vacant.  (But  see 
Hale,  p.  31.)  The  division  of  the  sachems  of  each  tribe  into 
classes  probably  represents  the  original  division  of  the  tribe 
into  villages. 

"  Each  sachem  had  an  assistant  sachem,  who  was 
elected  by  the  gens  (clan)  of  his  principal  from  among 
its  members,  and  who  was  installed  with  the  same  forms  and 
ceremonies.  He  was  styled  an  'aid.'  It  was  his  duty  to 
stand  behind  his  superior  on  all  occasions  of  ceremony,  to  act 
as  his  messenger,  and  in  general  to  be  subject  to  his  directions. 
It  gave  to  the  aid  the  office  of  chief,  and  rendered  probable 
his  election  as  the  successor  of  his  principal  after  the  decease 
of  the  latter.  In  their  figurative  language  these  aids  of  the 
sachems  were  styled  '  Braces  in  the  Long  House,'  which 
symbolized  the  confederacy."  (Houses,  31.) 

The  war-chiefs  Tawannears  and  Sonosowa  were  as- 

I.  70 

sistant  sachems. 

4Q       Other  officials,  for  example  the  Keepers  of  the  Faith, 
I.  80    took  and  held  office  in  the  same  way  as  the  Sachems. 

Each  clan  had  certain  offices  to  which  permanent  names 
were  attached  and  to  which  the  clan  had  the  power  of 
nomination.  The  nominee  must  however  be  confirmed 
and  raised  up  by  the  tribe.  The  officer  was  known  by 
his  official  name  as  long  as  he  held  office,  but  when  he  re 
signed  or  was  deposed  he,  of  course,  lost  the  name  as  well 
as  the  office. 

215 


APPENDIX    B 

And  in  general  each  clan  had  a  series  of  names  denoting 
rank  and  duty,  which  it  bestowed  upon  its  members  as  vacan 
cies  occurred.  While  hereditary  only  in  a  general  sense,  they 
passed  down  much  like  titles  of  nobility,  the  holder  for  the 
time  being  known  only  by  the  name  to  which  he  was  thus 
appointed,  while  his  former  name  might  be  bestowed  upon 
some  other.  A  difference  between  the  elective  name  of  an 
Iroquois  and  the  hereditary  name  of  an  English  duke  is,  how 
ever,  to  be  noted.  The  name  did  not  descend  ipso  facto  by 
death,  but  died  with  its  holder  and  must  be  expressly  raised 
up.  (In  the  same  way  the  eldest  son  of  the  King  of  England 
is  Duke  of  Cornwall  by  right  of  birth,  but  not  Prince  of  Wales 
until  especially  appointed.)  It  was  moreover  considered  inde 
cent  to  do  this  until  a  considerable  period  had  elapsed  after 
the  death.  The  names  owned  by  a  clan  usually  indicated 
some  character  of  its  totem  animal.  See  Powell,  Wyandot 
Government,  Bur.  Eth.,  I.  60.  Very  few  of  the  significations 
given  for  the  names  of  the  sachemships  accord  with  this  rule, 
which  supplies  another  reason  for  doubting  their  accuracy. 

No  doubt,  if  the  trouble  had  been  taken  in  time,  we  might 
have  a  complete  list  of  the  members  of  a  tribe  with  the  names 
and  rank  of  each  individual  (see  note  68). 

cO      The  division  of  the  tribes  at  the  close  of  the  Ameri- 

!•  6z  can  Revolution  caused  much  confusion  in  the  appoint 
ments  of  sachems.  Some  sachemships  have  become  extinct 
in  one  country  or  the  other.  Others  again  were  transferred 
to  a  new  clan,  and  in  some  cases  a  sachem  was  appointed  by 
each  fragment  of  the  tribe,  so  that  there  are  two  lines. 

Something  like  this  may  have  happened  in  the  prehistoric 
separations  of  the  Iroquoians.  There  are  some  striking  resem 
blances  between  the  sachem  titles  in  different  tribes  :  Da-yo- 
ho-go  is  a  Mohawk  Wolf  and  Da-yo-o-yo-go  a  Cayuga  wolf; 
but  either  these  resemblances  are  fortuitous  or  false  etymology 
has  altered  the  names. 

The  present  names  of  most,  if  not  all,  of  the  sachemships 
probably  antedate  the  formation  of  the  League.  Several  are 

216 


HOUSEHOLDS 

mentioned  by  writers  of  the  seventeenth  century  by  their 
present  names. 

cr  As  noted  above,  not  merely  the  war  sachems,  but 
I-  65  every  sachem  in  the  list  had  an  assistant  sachem. 
Chadwick  gives  particulars  of  these  so  far  as  now  existing  in 
Canada. 

e2  Da-at-go-dose.  The  name  of  this  sachem  illustrates 
I.  222  the  variances  that  are  found  in  the  titles  attached  to 
the  sachemships.  Morgan  in  his  first  edition  gives  the  Seneca 
name  as  (p.  64)  Da-at-ga-dose  and  (p.  231)  De-at-ga-doos. 
Hale,  following  the  sachem's  own  dialect,  Onondaga,  calls 
him  Dehatkahthos.  In  Mohawk  he  is  Tehhatkahdons  ac 
cording  to  Hale,  but  Dehhatkatons  in  Chadwick.  Another 
modern  authority  (Appeal  Papers)  says  Dehatkatons. 

eg  The  word  u  sachem  "  is  of  Algonquin  origin  and  was 
I.  62  not  used  by  the  Iroquois. 

SOCIETY 

,.4  IROQUOIS  society  differed  fundamentally  from  ours, 
1-  74  and  Morgan's  distinction  is  that  he  not  only  dis 
covered  the  differences,  as  many  intelligent  observers  had  done 
before  him,  but  sought  out  the  reasons  of  them  and  first  re 
duced  our  knowledge  of  aboriginal  society  to  a  science. 

The  unit  of  Iroquois  society  was  not  an  individual,  nor  yet 
a  family,  in  our  sense  of  the  word,  but  a  household  including 
all  the  dwellers  in  one  of  the  communal  houses  elsewhere 
described.  These  households  by  a  process  of  increase  and 
swarming  gave  rise  to  clans  and  phratries,  held  together  by  the 
natural  bond  of  kin.  Politically  they  were  united  in  tribes 
and  confederacies  held  together  by  the  artificial  bond  of  al 
liance,  but  cemented  also  by  the  bond  of  kin. 

Thus  the  social  organization  of  the  Iroquois  was  developed 
through  the  separation  of  near  kin,  and  the  political  organiza 
tion  through  the  union  of  remote  kin. 

A  brief  recital  of  the  history  of  these  social  and  political 

217 


APPENDIX    B 

bodies  among  the  Iroquois  as  nearly  as  it  can  now  be  recovered 
will  illustrate  these  statements. 

j  ,  The  tradition  that  originally  there  were  but  two  clans, 
the  Bear  and  the  Deer,  means  that  in  the  early  com 
munity  from  which  the  Five  Nations  and  the  Hurons  de 
scended,  there  were  two  long  houses,  one  having  the  bear  for 
its  totem  and  the  other  the  deer.  These  totems  may  have 
been  adopted  because  of  the  devotion  of  the  household  to  the 
chase  of  that  particular  animal ;  but  the  more  probable  theory 
is  that,  owing  to  some  event  or  some  dream,  it  had  been  ac 
cepted  as  an  object  of  veneration  by  the  household.  Each  of 
these  households  consisted  of  women,  children,  and  unmarried 
men,  claiming  their  descent  from  a  common  female  ancestor, 
or  group  of  female  ancestors,  and  of  men  married  to  the 
women  of  the  household.  These  men  would  be,  of  course, 
of  the  other  house,  for  the  fundamental  rule  of  society  in  the 
gentile  or  clan  stage  is  that  marriage  must  be  out  of  the  clan, 
though  normally  within  the  tribe.  Every  child  in  the  Deer 
household  would  be  born  of  a  Deer  mother  and  a  Bear  father 
and  would  itself  be  a  Deer.  When  such  a  boy  came  to  dis 
tinguish  persons,  he  would  see  a  number  of  women  in  the 
house,  one  of  whom  would  be  his  actual  mother,  and  he  would 

call  her  "  mother  "  (No-yeh,  to  use  the  Seneca  term). 

All  the  other  women  of  his  mother's  generation  he 
would  also  call  No-yeh,  they  being  his  mother's  "  sisters,"  that 
is,  women  of  her  generation  and  house.  His  actual  grandmother 
would  be  called  by  him  "  grandmother,"  as  would  all  the  other 
women  of  her  generation.  All  the  children  in  the  house 
would  be  children  of  one  or  another  of  his  "  mothers,"  and  so 
his  "brothers"  or  "-sisters."  The  men  in  the  house  would 
be  of  three  different  classes  :  first,  the  men  born  in  the  house 
hold  and  not  yet  removed  from  it  by  marriage ;  of  these,  those 
of  his  mother's  generation  would  be  his  "uncles,"  being  all 
"brothers"  to  his  mother.  Secondly,  his  actual  father  and 
grandfather  whom  he  would  call  by  those  names;  and  third, 
the  husbands  of  his  other  "  mothers,"  whom  he  would  call  by  a 

218 


RELATIONSHIPS 

word  which  Morgan  translates  as  "  stepfathers."  As  the 
family  name  descended  in  the  female  line,  that  of  all  the 
females  and  unmarried  males  in  the  house  would  be  Deer, 
and,  in  the  case  supposed,  that  of  all  the  married  men  would 
be  Bear. 

In  the  other  house  this  boy  would  find  his  father's  relations, 
his  father's  "brothers"  who  would  be  his  "fathers,"  his  father's 
"  sisters "  his  "  aunts,"  and  his  father's  sisters'  children  his 
"  cousins."  Here  also  would  dwell  some  of  his  uncles  mar 
ried  to  Bear  women.  The  legends  of  the  Amazons  and  of 
other  separate  communities  of  one  sex  or  the  other  probably 
arose  from  the  traditional  accounts  of  such  primitive  com 
munities  as  the  one  described. 

This  system  of  counting  relationships  will  be  less 
difficult  to  understand  if  it  is  borne  in  mind  that,  for  ex 
ample,  the  word  Ha-nih,  which  we  translate  "father,"  did  not 
convey  to  the  Iroquois  the  precise  meaning  that  the  word 
u  father  "  does  to  us.  It  was  simply,  in  the  community  supposed, 
"Man  who  may  lawfully  be  my  father,"  that  is,  a  man  of  the 
house  or  group  into  which  my  mother  is  married.  From  the 
lack  of  the  institutions  of  marriage  and  of  the  family  as  we 
have  them,  the  Iroquois  did  not  recognize  nor  name  relation 
ships  as  we  do.  As  Morgan  has  pointed  out  in  /Indent  Society 
(p.  442),  these  names  had  their  origin  in  an  early  condition  of 
group  marriage,  all  the  men  of  the  group  being  husbands  to  all 
the  women.  While  this  condition  had  been  much  altered  in 
the  days  of  which  the  text  treats,  the  names  would,  of  course, 
never  be  in  advance  of  the  institutions,  but  would  still  indicate 
the  former  state  of  affairs  and  would  not  be  changed  or  differ 
entiated  until  a  definite  need  of  more  precise  terms  was  felt. 
They  had  become  titles  rather  than  descriptions. 

The  household  thus  organized  was  governed  by  its  perma 
nent  members,  the  women  ;  certain  elderly  and  prudent  women 
being  set  apart  more  or  less  formally  as  rulers  of  the  house. 
These  would  select  from  among  the  men  of  the  house,  that  is, 
those  born  therein,  a  sachem  to  represent  the  household  in 

219 


APPENDIX    B 

treating  with  the  other  house  or  with  foreigners,  and  in  the 
performance  of  the  various  religious  or  political  rites  and  cere 
monies.  These  sachems,  one  or  more  from  each  house,  some 
times  with  the  chief  women  as  coadjutors,  would  meet  in  the 
council  of  the  village,  which  was  thus  the  beginning  of  a  state, 
uniting  the  two  houses  for  war  and  other  matters  of  foreign 
politics  and  preserving  the  peace  between  them. 

Within  its  own  walls  each  household  was  supreme.  It 
controlled  the  lives  and  property  of  its  members,  claimed  re 
dress  for  the  injury  which  it  suffered  when  these  were  taken, 
and  appointed  and  deposed  its  officers,  in  entire  independence 
of  outside  control. 

From  this  original  village  of  two  houses  it  is  not  many  steps 
to  the  Iroquois  Confederacy  of  a  dozen  or  twenty  villages 
divided  among  five  tribes,  each  including  in  successive  order 
phratries,  clans,  and  households. 

The  original  Bear  household  would  in  time  grow  too  large 
for  a  single  dwelling,  other  houses  would  be  built  beside  the 
first,  the  totem  and  the  sense  of  relationship  being  still  re 
tained.  Thus  arose  the  clan,  a  group  of  households  recogniz 
ing  a  common  totem  and  a  common  kinship. 

No  hard  and  fast  rule  can  be  laid  down  as  to  the  rights  of 
the  household  as  against  the  clan.  In  fact  it  doubtless  varied 
in  different  clans  and  at  different  times. 

The  allegiance  of  each  household  to  the  clan  was,  however, 
less  strong  than  its  allegiance  to  itself.  Property  rights  would 
tend  to  be  limited  to  the  house  so  far  as  they  related  to  keep 
ing  what  they  had,  although  when  a  wrong  was  done  to  one 
household  all  of  the  same  totem  would  feel  the  injury  and  the 
aid  of  all  would  be  welcome  in  securing  redress.  And  while 
a  sachemship  would  usually  remain  in  the  house  of  its  origin, 
the  sachem  would  act  for  all  the  clan.  As  the  clan  and  its 
constituent  houses  grew  larger,  the  jurisdiction  of  the  house 
hold  would  gradually  encroach  on  that  of  the  clan,  and  the 
community  of  interest  or  closeness  of  kin  of  some  houses 
might  in  time  produce  a  clan  within  a  clan. 

220 


THE    PHRATRY 

55  The  growth  and  subdivision  of  the  clan  produced 
*•  75  the  phratry,  which  is  a  group  of  clans,  just  as  the 
clan  is  a  group  of  households.  Some  house  or  group  of  houses 
would  adopt  a  new  totem,  and  thus  a  new  clan  would  be  born. 
The  sense  of  kinship  would  still  remain  and  with  it  the  pro 
hibition  against  marrying  kin  and  the  united  demand  for 
retribution  in  case  of  injuries. 

In  games  both  of  chance  and  of  skill  phratry  played 
I-  294  against  phratry.-  The  clans  of  a  phratry  were  brother 
clans  to  each  other  and  cousin  clans  to  those  of  the  other 
phratry.  As  time  went  on,  the  sense  of  kin  within  the 
phratry  became  weaker  and  marriage  was  allowed  with  any 
clan  but  that  of  the  individual. 

There  are  other  ways  in  which  phratries  may  have  been 
formed.  "  From  the  differences  in  the  composition  of  the  phra 
tries  in  the  several  tribes  it  seems  probable  that  the  phratries 
are  modified  in  their  gentes  (clans)  at  intervals  of  time  to  meet 
changes  of  condition.  Some  gentes  prosper  and  increase  in 
numbers,  while  others,  through  calamities,  decline,  and  others 
become  extinct ;  so  that  transfers  of  gentes  from  one  phratry 
to  another  were  found  necessary  to  preserve  some  degree 
of  equality."  (^Houses,  II.) 

There  is  an  historic  instance  of  the  division  of  a  clan  which 
may  indicate  yet  another  way  in  which  a  phratry  might  be 
formed.  "We  have  in  the  village  (Caughnawaga  Mission) 
three  families  (clans),  that  of  the  Bear,  that  of  the  Wolf,  and 
that  of  the  Turtle.  All  new-comers  become  members  of  one 
of  these  three  families.  The  family  of  the  Turtle  is  so  nu 
merous  that  they  have  been  obliged  to  divide  it  into  the  Great 
Turtle  ancj  the  Little  Turtle."  (Nau  to  Bonin,  1 735,  68  J.  R.^ 
268.)  These  two  Turtle  clans  would  for  a  time  at  least  pre 
serve  so  strong  a  sense  of  kinship  that  they  would  not  inter 
marry  and  would  act  together  in  public  matters.  In  other 
words  they  would  compose  a  phratry.  This  would  react  upon 
the  Bear  and  the  Wolf,  who  would  marry  each  other  less  and 
Turtles  more.  Also  in  games  the  Bear  and  Wolf  would  be 

221 


APPENDIX    B 

on  one  side  and  the  two  Turtles  on  the  other;  finally,  in  any 
dispute  between  the  Turtle  phratry  and  one  of  the  outside 
clans,  the  other  clan  would  naturally  use  its  good  offices  for 
the  weaker  party,  and  thus  a  phratric  bond  would  grow  up, 
giving  an  instance  of  a  phratry  formed  spontaneously  by  union 
of  separate  clans,  not  by  division  of  any  original  clan.  It 
happens,  accordingly,  that  in  no  two  of  the  Six  Tribes  of  the 
League  (except  in  the  case  of  the  Mohawks  and  Oneidas, 
each  of  which  had  lost  a  phratry)  do  the  phratries  quite 
coincide. 

c6       A  tribe  is  a  political  union   of  kindred  clans  or  parts 

I-  39  of  clans  possessing  a  common  territory  and  a  common 
dialect. 

As  the  household  and  the  clan  became  segmented  through 
growth  in  numbers,  so  the  original  community  became  seg 
mented  by  migration.  The  original  two-house  community 
was  a  tribe,  and  it  still  remained  a  tribe  when  it  included  two 
phratries,  of  three  or  four  clans  each. 

An  Iroquois  was  bound  to  his  household,  clan,  and  phratry 
by  a  single  tie,  that  of  kin.  To  his  tribe  he  was  bound  not 
only  by  the  tie  of  kin,  but  by  those  of  one  land,  one  speech, 
and  one  council-fire. 

When  by  migration  or  dissension  a  community  was  divided, 
the  original  tie  of  blood  would  remain,  but  the  ties  of 

O  ' 

territory  and  government  and  after  a  while  of  speech  would 
be  readjusted.  It  usually  happened  upon  the  division  of  a 
community  that  a  portion  of  each  clan  was  found  in  each 
division,  and  the  tie  of  kin  served  to  strengthen  alliances  that 
might  be  formed  between  tribes  of  the  same  stock,  but  when 
the  choice  came  Wolf  did  go  forth  to  war  against  Wolf,  strik 
ing  for  his  own  fireside  and  tribe  against  those  who  were  of 
his  own  clan  but  of  another  tribe.  Both  sides  of  this  picture 
appear  in  the  speech  of  the  Oneidas  to  the  Hurons  at  the  end 
of  a  war  that  may  have  lasted  a  century.  "  Thou  knowest, 
thou  Huron,  that  formerly  we  constituted  but  one  cabin  and 
one  country.  By  some  chance,  we  separated.  It  is  time  to 


THE    CONFEDERACY 

unite   again."       (^Journal    des    Jesuites,    November    3,    1656, 
42  7  £.,  252.) 

A  Mohawk  born  of  a  Turtle  father  and  a  Bear  mother 
would  be  himself  a  Bear,  but  closely  allied  to  the  Turtle  and 
conscious  of  the  blood  tie.  If  he  married  into  the  Wolf  clan, 
he  would  dwell  in  a  Wolf  house  and  would  be  fat  or  hungry 
with  the  Wolves,  and  his  own  children  would  be  Wolves. 
Thus  each  of  the  three  Mohawk  clans  would  have  a  claim  upon 
his  regard  and  upon  his  tomahawk.  Whoever  might  attack,  he 
would  fight  for  his  father,  his  mother,  and  his  children. 

A  political  union  of  tribes  constituted  a  confederacy,  united 
by  one  stock  language,  contiguity  of  territory,  and  a  federal 
council.  The  dual  political  allegiance  to  the  tribe  and  the 
confederacy  is  not  difficult  to  be  apprehended  by  us  who  are 
citizens  of  sovereign  states  and  of  a  federal  republic,  but  the 
social  allegiance  to  household,  clan,  and  phratry  must  be  also 
continually  borne  in  mind  as  not  the  rival  but  the  support  of  the 
political  allegiance.  The  League  of  the  Iroquois  was,  from 
one  point  of  view,  a  union  of  five  tribes,  from  another  a 
union  of  eight  clans,  and  the  closeness  of  the  weave  was  due 
to  the  intimate  union  of  the  warp  and  the  woof. 

Quite  enough   of  difficulty  is  unavoidable  in  present 
ing  accurately  institutions  so  different   from  our  own, 
but  further  complication  has  been  added  by  the  varying  terms 
used  by  different  writers  and  the  looseness  with   which  these 
terms  are  still  employed. 

Thus  the  clan  is  called  in  the  text  and  by  other  writers  a 
tribe,  in  some  of  the  early  writers  a  family,  and  in  Mr.  Mor 
gan's  Ancient  Society  a  gens. 

The  household  is  recognized  in  the  text  but  obscurely,  under 
the  name  of  family.  Lafitau  and  other  early  French  writers 
call  it  the  "  cabane." 

The  phratry  Morgan  recognized  but  did  not  name  (see 
text,  I.  76,  77,  202,  281,  323). 

The  tribe  he  called  in  the  text  a  nation,  and  the  confederacy 
a  League. 

223 


APPENDIX    B 

The  terms  used  in  this  note  are,  except  that  "  clan  "  is  pre 
ferred  to  "  gens,"  those  used  by  Morgan  in  Ancient  Society. 

It  would  add  much  to  clearness  of  statement  if  a  distinc 
tion  in  name  were  made  between  an  entire  clan  and  the  por 
tion  of  a  clan  found  in  a  single  tribe. 

I.  77j    It    is  of  course  an   error  to  state,  as   is  twice   done 
87       in   the   text,   that   the  clan    system    was   a    conscious 
invention. 

Morgan  had  not  then  got  beyond  the  philosophy  of  that 
day,  in  which  everything  was  created  and  nothing  grew. 
"  Mr.  Morgan  is  of  opinion  that  these  institutions  were  the 
result  of  '  a  protracted  effort  of  legislation.'  An  examination 
of  the  customs  prevailing  among  other  Indian  tribes  makes  it 
probable  that  the  elements  of  the  Iroquois  polity  existed 
among  them  from  an  indefinite  antiquity  ;  and  the  legislation 
of  which  Mr.  -Morgan  speaks  could  only  involve  the  arrange 
ment  and  adjustment  of  already  existing  materials."  (Park- 
man,  Pontiac,  I.  12.) 

I.  80,    Such  phrases  as  "  disinheritance  of  the  son  "  show  how 

J3°  Morgan  was  then  influenced  by  the  theory  of  con 
scious  legislation.  He  was  one  of  the  leaders  in  upsetting  it. 

In  the  League  of  the  Iroquois  the  gentile  (clan)  organization 
of  society  was  perceived  and  presented,  though  neither  the 
original  extent  of  the  system  nor  its  origin  and  history  were 
comprehended.  For  purposes  of  comparison  the  attempt  has 
been  made  to  state  in  this  note  the  principles  finally  estab 
lished  by  Morgan.  For  an  adequate  statement  the  reader  is 
referred  to  Morgan's  Ancient  Society  and  to  Powell's  "  Wyandot 
Government  "  (Bur.  Etk.,  1.  59),  while  a  clear  and  interest 
ing  account  appears  in  Fiske's  Discovery  of  America,  I.  52; 
but  even  the  present  simple  outline  may  be  of  interest  in  view 
of  the  great  part  which  the  clan  has  played  in  human  history. 

But  we  will  let  Morgan  speak  for  himself :  — 

u  The  gentile  organization   opens   to  us  one   of  the 
oldest  and  most  widely  prevalent  institutions  of  man 
kind.      It  furnished  the  nearly  universal  plan  of  government 

224 


CLANS    AND    PHRATRIES 

of  ancient  society,  Asiatic,  European,  African,  American,  and 
Australian.  It  was  the  instrumentality  by  means  of  which 
society  was  organized  and  held  together.  Commencing  in 
savagery,  and  continuing  through  the  three  sub-periods  of  bar 
barism,  it  remained  until  the  establishment  of  political  society, 
which  did  not  occur  until  after  civilization  had  commenced. 
As  far  as  our  knowledge  extends,  this  organization  runs 
through  the  entire  ancient  world  upon  all  the  continents,  and 
it  was  brought  down  to  the  historical  period  by  such  tribes  as 
attained  to  civilization."  (Houses,  p.  I.)  "  No  other  institu 
tion  of  mankind  has  held  such  an  ancient  and  remarkable 
relation  to  the  course  of  human  progress."  (Ancient  Society, 
P-  379-) 

CLANS 

58      The  clans  and   phratries  of  the   Five  Nations,  Tus- 
I-  76>  77  caroras,  and  Hurons  are  given  below  :  — 

FIRST   PHRATRY  SECOND   PHRATRY 

TUSCARORA  Bear,  Eel,  Great  Turtle,  Beaver  Deer,  Wolf,  Little  Turtle,  Snipe 

HURON  Bear,  Wolf,  Turtle,  Beaver  Deer,  Snake,  Porcupine,  Hawk 

SENECA  Bear,  Wolf,  Turtle,  Beaver  Deer,  Snipe,  Heron,  Hawk 

CAYUGA  Bear,  Wolf,  Turtle,  Snipe,  Eel  Deer,  Beaver,  Hawk 

ONONDAGA  Wolf,  Turtle,  Snipe,  Beaver,  Ball  Deer,  Eel  (=Hawk),  Bear 

ONEIDA  Bear,  Wolf,  Turtle  Wanting 

MOHAWK  Bear,  Wolf,  Turtle  Wanting 

Among  the  Tuscaroras  the   Deer  is  now  extinct,  and  the 
Wolf  is  subdivided  into  Gray  Wolf  and  Yellow  Wolf. 
The  phratric  division  of  the  Hurons  is  conjectural. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  tradition  of  two  original 
clans,  the  Bear  and  the  Deer,  is  well  borne  out  by 
this  list.  The  probabilities  are  that  the  Seneca  clans  and 
phratries  were  the  same  that  existed  among  the  Iroquoians 
before  their  separation.  The  Hurons  had  eight  clans  as  early 
as  1653.  (Bressani's  Relation,  1653,  3^  7-  £•••>  2^3-) 

The  absence  of  the  second  phratry  and  of  the  Beaver 
clan    of   the    first    phratry    from    the    Mohawk    and 

VOL.  II.— 15  225 


APPENDIX    B 

Oneida  tribes  must  date  back  to  the  period  when  these  two 
constituted  one  tribe.  The  probable  explanation  is  suggested 
by  the  fact  that  when  first  discovered  the  Mohawks  had  three 
villages,  each  tenanted  by  a  single  clan.  They  were  then 
recent  fugitives  from  Canada,  and  had  been  almost  destroyed 
in  wars  with  the  Algonquins  and  Hurons.  If  the  clans  dwelt 
in  separate  villages  at  the  beginning  of  this  period  of  war  and 
migration,  it  might  easily  be  that  only  three  emigrated  to  New 
York,  the  others  being  destroyed  or  joining  the  Hurons.  Men 
of  these  lost  clans  who  dwelt  with  their  wives'  families  would 
leave  no  trace,  for  their  children  would  take  the  clan  name 
of  their  mother,  and  in  one  generation  all  the  clans  represented 
only  by  males  would  become  extinct.  Or  the  clans  might  have 
been  lost  in  another  way.  It  was  quite  usual  for  an  entire 
clan  or  village  to  migrate  to  a  hunting  or  fishing  country  at 
certain  seasons  _  of  the  year,  and  it  sometimes  happened  that 
through  war  or  other  circumstances,  they  failed  to  reunite 
with  their  kindred.  It  is  therefore  possible  that  the  Mohawks 
and  Oneidas  never  had  more  than  three  clans  after  their  sepa 
ration  from  the  parent  stock. 

The  only  other  Iroquoian  people  of  whose  clans  we  have  a 
distinct  record,  the  Cherokees,  had  ten  clans,  of  which  the 
Wolf  and  Deer  are  the  only  ones  occurring  among  the  Iro- 
quois.  This  divergence  may  be  expected,  since  only  three  of 
the  ten  clans  bear  the  names  of  animals.  The  Cherokees  had 
evidently  taken  up  a  new  line  of  nomenclature,  and  the  old 
clan  names  were  gradually  being  dropped. 

Some  of  the  Huron  and  Seneca  clans  may  have  numbered 
nearly  two  thousand  persons. 

NUMBERS 

59      IT   is   improbable   that   at   any    time   from   the   estab- 

25     lishment    of  the    League    to    its   disruption    by    the 

Revolutionary     War     the     Iroquois     numbered     more     than 

15,000    or    16,000    souls.      This   was    apparently    the    total 

226 


NUMBERS 

when  they  first  march  into  history,  and  it  is  very  close 
to  the  total  to-day.  This  uniformity  in  numbers,  however, 
is  little  more  than  an  interesting  coincidence.  The  original 
Iroquois  blood  has  been  much  diluted  by  admixture  of  other 
Iroquoians,  of  Algonquins,  and  of  whites. 

The  only  contemporary  testimony  tending  to  confirm 
Morgan's  figures  is  that  of  the  Jesuit  Dablon  in  1671,  who 
says  that  the  Senecas  alone  are  12,000  or  13,000  persons; 
but  Gamier,  who  was  himself  a  resident  among  the  Senecas, 
says,  in  1673,  *hat  tne  Senecas,  including  adopted  Hurons, 
are  800  fighting  men,  and  the  reading  of  Dablon's  state 
ment  may  very  well  be  a  copyist's  error  in  punctuation. 
Recent  experiences  with  the  Boers  have  shown  the  difficulty 
of  making  an  accurate  estimate  of  a  scattered  population. 

Parkman  considers  (Jesuits,  p.  Ixvi)  that  trie  figure  of 
25,000  given  by  Morgan  in  the  text  is  far  too  high,  and 
computes  the  population  at  the  height  of  Iroquois  power  at 
10,000  or  12,000.  Morgan  afterward  thought  17,000  was 
about  right  for  this  period,  but  this  is  a  little  higher  than  the 
testimony  warrants. 

The  earliest  attempt  at  an  estimate  that  we  have  is 
in  the  Relation  of  164.2-4.3,  where  Vimont  states  that 
there  are  700  or  800  Mohawk  warriors,  and  that  the 
Upper  Iroquois  are  probably  a  little  more  numerous  than 
the  Hurons.  This  figure  for  the  Mohawks  is  confirmed 
by  Jogues  (24  y.  R.,  294).  If  Vimont  is  right  there  were  at 
least  16,000  Iroquois  altogether,  perhaps  considerably  more, 
but  his  figure  for  the  Upper  Iroquois  can  hardly  be  more  than  a 
guess.  Most  of  the  early  writers  give  merely  the  number  ol 
warriors.  The  warriors  were  usually  about  a  quarter  of  an 
Indian  population  (Relation  of  1657—58)  ;  but  owing  to  special 
circumstances,  may  not  have  been  more  than  a  fifth  of  the 
Iroquois,  and  the  latter  proportion  is  accordingly  accepted. 

Taking  the  total  at  16,000  in  1642,  the  tribes  counted 
about  as  follows  :  Mohawks  3,000,  Oneidas  1,000,  Ononda- 
gas  3,000,  Cayugas  2,000,  and  Senecas  7,000. 

.    227 


APPENDIX    B 


Of  the  2,2OO  warriors  mentioned  in  the  Relation  of  1660, 
it  is  said  that  only  1,200  were  native  Iroquois,  the  rest  being 
adopted  captives.  In  1668  we  are  told  that  two-thirds  of  the 
Mohawks  and  Oneidas  were  Huron  and  Algonquin  captives. 

The  figures  in  the  following  table  are  usually  obtained  by 
multiplying  a  stated  number  of  warriors  by  five.  After  the 
seventeenth  century  the  figures  include  the  Tuscaroras. 


1642 
1 660 
1665 
1668 
1681 
1684 
1687 
1689 
1698 
1720 
1736 
1763 

1773 
1877 
1890 


Jesuit  Relations 


Bruyas 
DeChesneau 
De  La  Barre 
French  Memoir 

Unnamed  authority  (Quoted  U.  S.  Census  1890) 
a  «(  «  «  « 

Lafitau 

Unnamed  authority  (Quoted  U.  S.  Census  1890) 

Sir  Wm.  Johnson 

Unnamed  authority  (Quoted  U.  S.  Census  1890) 

U.  S.  Census  (In  U.  S.  and  Canada) 


16,000 
1 1,000 

11,500 

10,000 
10,000 

i  3,000 

10,000 

12,850 

6,150 

I  5,000 

7,35° 
11,650 
12,500 
13,668 
15,870 


The  United  States  Census  of  1900  enumerates  the  Indians 
only  by  States,  not  by  tribes,  but  the  best  obtainable  informa 
tion  indicates  not  less  than  8,000  Iroquois  in  the  United 
States  and  10,000  in  Canada. 

In  the  State  of  New  York  there  were,  in  1890,  5,239 
Iroquois,  to  which  should  be  added  98  on  the  adjacent  Corn- 
planter  Reservation  in  Pennsylvania.  There  were  2,050 
elsewhere  in  the  United  States. 

While   Morgan's  figures  for  the  sixteenth  century  are 
too  high,  his  estimate  of  7,000,  in    1850,  is  too  low. 
There  were   then   in    the  United    States   and    Canada   nearly 
10,000  Iroquois. 

The  foregoing  figures  show  how  swiftly,  by  the  shock 

of  collision    with   a    superior    race    and   by    war   and 

pestilence,  an    Indian    population    may   be  reduced,  and   how 

228 


POPULATION    OF    TOWNS 

by  peaceful   arts  and   adjustment   to  the  changed  conditions  it 
may  again  be  restored.    The  Iroquois  are  now  slowly  increasing. 

As  an  instance  of  their  losses  by  war  and  pestilence,  Father 
Jogues  says  (1642)  that  there  were  700  Mohawk  warriors,  and 
a  later  French  captive  (1660)  finds  only  200.  The  latter  fig 
ure  is  probably  below  the  facts,  for  in  the  same  year  a  Mohawk 
war-party  of  200  is  reported. 

60      The  Iroquoians  were  gregarious,  and  apparently  the  size 

•  3°  of  their  towns  was  limited  only  by  the  difficulty  of  rais 
ing  corn  and  cutting  firewood  for  a  large  population  within  a 
reasonable  distance.  Partly  for  protection  and  still  more  from 
their  own  fondness  for  society,  nearly  all  were  found  in  closely 
built  villages  varying  in  size  from  300  to  3,000  inhabitants. 

In  the  Relation  of  1656—57,  it  is  said  that  fourteen  Iroquois 
villages  are  known,  which  with  due  allowance  for  hamlets  and 
single  cabins  would  make  the  average  village  contain  perhaps  800 
people.  The  Huron  villages  averaged  six  persons  to  a  fire,  and 
less  than  400  persons  to  a  village.  (Relation  of  164.0.)  In  ten 
Neutral  villages  there  were  3,000  persons.  (Relation  of  164.1.) 
A  Tobacco  village  of  600  families  is  mentioned  in  the  Relation 
of  1649-50.  Father  Peron  writes  (15  J.  R.,  152)  of  a  Huron 
village  of  800  families.  Le  Jeune  (Relation  of  i6jo)  says  there 
were  300  fires  (at  least  2,000  people)  in  Ossosane. 

Payne,  in  his  America,  tells  us  that  the  Illinois  village  of 
Kaskaskia  had  10,000  inhabitants,  an  allegation  which  rests 
on  better  foundation  than  his  statement  that  the  Iroquois  could 
put  15,000  warriors  in  the  field. 

The  location  of  the  Iroquois  and  their  intimate  connection 
with  our  history  have  caused  their  numbers  to  be  known  and 
recorded.  Of  most  of  the  tribes  and  of  the  total  Indian 
population  of  our  country  in  early  times  no  such  accurate 
information  exists,  and  the  estimates  which  have  been  made 
exhibit  a  wide  variance.  One  author  has  computed  the  total 
population  of  North  America  at  the  discovery  to  be  sixteen 
millions,  of  whom  perhaps  one-half  were  within  the  continen 
tal  territories  of  the  United  States.  A  very  slight  acquaint- 

229 


APPENDIX    B 

ance  with  the  conditions  of  Indian  life  will  suffice  to  show 
the  absurdity  of  these  figures  (see  Bur.  Etb.,  1885— 86,  p.  33). 
In  the  reaction  from  such  high  estimates  there  has  been 
developed  a  tendency  to  assume  that  the  benefits  and  injuries 
which  civilization  has  brought  very  nearly  balance  each  other, 
and  that  there  are  now  as  many  Indians  as  there  ever  were. 
Roosevelt  forcibly  answers :  u  This  last  is  a  theory  that  can 
only  be  upheld  on  the  supposition  that  the  whole  does  not 
consist  of  the  sum  of  the  parts,  for  whereas  we  can  check  off 
on  our  fingers  the  tribes  that  have  slightly  increased,  we  can 
enumerate  scores  that  have  died  out  almost  before  our  eyes." 
(Winning  of  the  West,  I.  18.)  Where  are  the  Algonquins  of 
New  England,  Long  Island,  and  New  Jersey  ?  Where  are 
the  Powhattans,  the  Natchez,  the  multitudinous  stocks  of  Cal 
ifornia  ?  In  the  communities  which  show  an  increase  it  is 
often,  as  noted,  in  the  case  of  the  Iroquois,  accompanied  by 
the  absorption  of  fragments  of  other  Indian  stocks  and  a  con 
siderable  infusion  of  white  blood.  The  Indian  population  of 
our  territory  in  1890  was  248,253,  in  1900,  237,196,  the 
apparent  decrease  being  safely  attributable  to  amalgamation 
with  the  whites.  In  the  sixteenth  century  our  territory  prob 
ably  held  600,000  Indians.  In  all  these  computations  Alaska 
and  Porto  Rico  are  excluded. 

The  destiny  of  the  Indian  is  not  extermination  but 
amalgamation  with  the  white  race.  Not  only  is  there 
much  white  blood  in  the  veins  of  nominal  Indians,  but  a  con 
siderable  number  of  nominal  whites  count  Indians  among  their 
ancestors.  Hence,  to  state  with  precision  how  fast  Indian 
blood  is  increasing,  if  at  all,  would  be  an  impossible  task. 
The  process  of  assimilation  is  of  course  a  very  gradual  one, 
but  the  case  of  the  Indian  is  very  different  from  that  of  the 
negro.  "There  seems  to  be  a  chance  that  in  one  part  of  our 
country,  the  Indian  Territory,  the  Indians,  who  are  continually 
advancing  in  civilization,  will  remain  as  the  ground  element 
of  the  population,  like  the  Creoles  in  Louisiana,  or  the  Mex 
icans  in  New  Mexico.'*  (Roosevelt,  ibid.) 

230 


PROCESSION    OF    SACHEMS 

COUNCILS 

61  "A  CIVIL  council,  which  might  be  called  by  either 
I.  104  nation,  was  usually  summoned  and  opened  in  the 
following  manner :  If,  for  example,  the  Onondagas  made 
the  call,  they  would  send  heralds  to  the  Oneidas  on  the  east, 
and  the  Cayugas  on  the  west  of  them,  with  belts  contain 
ing  an  invitation  to  meet  at  the  Onondaga  council-grove  on 
such  a  day  of  such  a  moon,  for  purposes  which  were  also 
named.  It  would  then  become  the  duty  of  the  Cayugas  to 
send  the  same  notification  to  the  Senecas,  and  of  the  Oneidas 
to  notify  the  Mohawks.  If  the  council  was  to  meet  for  peace 
ful  purposes,  then  each  sachem  was  to  bring  with  him  a  bundle 
of  fagots  of  white  cedar,  typical  of  peace  ;  if  for  warlike  objects, 
then  the  fagots  were  to  be  of  red  cedar,  emblematical  of  war. 
"  At  the  day  appointed  the  sachems  of  the  several  nations, 
with  their  followers,  who  usually  arrived  a  day  or  two  before 
and  remained  encamped  at  a  distance,  were  received  in  a 
formal  manner  by  the  Onondaga  sachems  at  the  rising  of  the 
sun.  They  marched  in  separate  procession  from  their  camps 
to  the  council-grove,  each  bearing  his  skin  robe  and  bundle  of 
fagots,  where  the  Onondaga  sachems  awaited  them  with  a 
concourse  of  people.  The  sachems  then  formed  themselves 
into  a  circle,  an  Onondaga  sachem,  who  by  appointment 
acted  as  master  of  the  ceremonies,  occupying  the  side  toward 
the  rising  sun.  At  a  signal  they  marched  round  the  circle, 
moving  by  the  north.  It  may  be  here  observed  that  the  rim 
of  the  circle  toward  the  north  is  called  the  c  cold  side '  (o-to'- 
wa-ga)  ;  that  on  the  west  c  the  side  toward  the  setting  sun  ' 
(ha-ga-kwas'-gwa) ;  that  on  the  south  '  the  side  of  the  high 
sun'  (en-de-ih'-kwa)  ;  and  that  on  the  east  'the  side  of  the 
rising  sun  '  (t'-ka-gwit-kaV-gwa).  After  marching  three 
times  around  on  the  circle  single  file,  the  head  and  foot  of 
the  column  being  joined,  the  leader  stopped  on  the  rising  sun 
side,  and  deposited  before  him  his  bundle  of  fagots.  In  this 
he  was  followed  by  the  others,  one  at  a  time,  following  by  the 

231 


APPENDIX    B 

north,  thus  forming  an  inner  circle  of  fagots.  After  this  each 
sachem  spread  his  skin  robe  in  the  same  order,  and  sat  down 
upon  it,  cross-legged,  behind  his  bundle  of  fagots,  with  his 
assistant  sachem  standing  behind  him.  The  master  of  the 
ceremonies,  after  a  moment's  pause,  arose,  drew  from  his 
pouch  two  pieces  of  dry  wood  and  a  piece  of  punk  with  which 
he  proceeded  to  strike  fire  by  friction.  When  fire  was  thus 
obtained,  he  stepped  within  the  circle  and  set  fire  to  his  own 
bundle,  and  then  to  each  of  the  others  in  the  order  in  which 
they  were  laid.  When  they  were  well  ignited,  and  at  a  signal 
from  the  master  of  the  ceremonies,  the  sachems  arose  and 
marched  three  times  around  the  Burning  Circle,  going  as  before 
by  the  north.  Each  turned  from  time  to  time  as  he  walked,  so 
as  to  expose  all  sides  of  his  person  to  the  warming  influence  of 
the  fires.  This  typified  that  they  warmed  their  affections  for 
each  other  in  order  that  they  might  transact  the  business  of 
the  council  in  friendship  and  unity.  They  then  reseated 
themselves  each  upon  his  own  robe.  After  this  the  master 
of  the  ceremonies,  again  rising  to  his  feet,  filled  and  lighted 
the  pipe  of  peace  from  his  own  fire.  Drawing  three  whiffs, 
one  after  the  other,  he  blew  the  first  toward  the  zenith,  the 
second  toward  the  ground,  and  the  third  toward  the  sun.  By 
the  first  act  he  returned  thanks  to  the  Great  Spirit  for  the 
preservation  of  his  life  during  the  past  year,  and  for  being 
permitted  to  be  present  at  this  council.  By  the  second,  he 
returned  thanks  to  his  Mother,  the  Earth,  for  her  various  pro 
ductions  which  had  ministered  to  his  sustenance.  And  by 
the  third,  he  returned  thanks  to  the  Sun  for  his  never-failing 
light,  ever  shining  upon  all.  These  words  were  not  re 
peated,  but  such  is  the  purport  of  the  acts  themselves.  He 
then  passed  the  pipe  to  the  first  upon  his  right  toward  the 
north,  who  repeated  the  same  ceremonies,  and  then  passed  it  to 
the  next,  and  so  on  around  the  burning  circle.  The  ceremony 
of  smoking  the  calumet  also  signified  that  they  pledged  to  each 
other  their  faith,  their  friendship,  and  their  honor. 

"  These  ceremonies  completed  the  opening  of  the  council, 

232 


LIMITED    PANTHEISM 

which  was   then  declared   to   be   ready  for  the  business  upon 
which  it  had  been  convened."      (Ancient  Society,  137  note.) 


RELIGION 

52  THE  beautiful  and  elevating  conception  of  the  Great 
I.  143,  Spirit  watching  over  his  red  children  from  the  heavens, 
174  and  pleased  with  their  good  deeds,  their  prayers,  and 
their  sacrifices,  has  been  known  to  the  Indians  only  since  the 
Gospel  of  Christ  was  preached  to  them.  The  primitive  In 
dians,  says  W.  P.  Clark,  in  his  valuable  book,  Ths  Indian  Sign 
Language,  "  were  limited  pantheists  —  they  did  not  believe 
that  the  universe  taken  as  a  whole  was  God ;  but  that  every 
thing  in  the  world  had  its  spiritual  essence  made  manifest  in 
the  forces  and  laws  of  nature."  Hence  the  regard  of  the 
Indian  for  the  totem  of  his  clan  held  much  more  of  reverence 
than  the  feeling  of  a  present-day  Briton  or  American  for  the 
lion  or  the  eagle.  Not  only  was  the  clan  totem  reverenced, 
but  each  individual  had  his  personal  totem  —  (in  Algonquin 
manitou,  in  Iroquois  oki).  In  youth  after  certain  exercises 
and  fastings  he  waited  for  a  dream,  and  whatever  he  dreamed 
of  became  his  manitou  on  which  his  fortune  depended,  —  the 
Master  of  his  Life,  the  Jesuits  translated  it.  With  one  it 
might  be  a  muskrat,  with  another  a  knife  ;  and  whatever  the 
totemic  object,  it  accompanied  the  Indian  on  his  journeys  and 
especially  on  the  war-path.  If  the  manitou  were  an  animal, 
the  skin,  or  the  plumage  of  a  bird,  was  taken  as  containing 
the  spirit  of  the  animal.  It  would  seem  that  when  the  Sen- 
ecas  attacked  Herkimer  at  Oriskany  they  left  in  their  camp 
their  baggage  containing  many  of  these  totemic  objects.  The 
capture  of  this  baggage  by  Gansevoort  was  an  even  greater 
calamity  than  their  defeat  by  Herkimer,  and  after  that  day 
they  had  no  heart  in  the  campaign.  In  all  religions 
we  have  accounts  of  divine  revelations  in  dreams  and 
visions,  but  to  the  Indian  every  dream  was  a  divine  message,  and 
to  the  Senecas  especially  none  was  too  absurd  to  be  obeyed. 

233 


APPENDIX    B 

In  addition  to  this  limited  pantheism  the  Iroquois  recog 
nized  several  personal  deities.  Ataentsic  was  the  oldest  of 
their  deities,  and  dwelt  with  her  grandson  Jouskeha  in  a  bark 
cabin  in  the  land  of  souls.  She  has  been  connected  with  the 
Moon  and  he  with  the  Sun.  Areskoui,  the  God  of  War,  is 
more  evidently  a  Sun  God.  Most  of  the  worship  now  given 
to  the  Great  Spirit  belongs  historically  to  Areskoui.  Taren- 
yawagon  was  much  reverenced,  for  he  was  the  sender  of 
dreams,  and  Hiawatha  was  an  actual  hero  raised  after  his 
death  to  a  place  in  the  Iroquois  Pantheon.  The  Iroquois 
religion  was  in  a  state  of  transition  from  pantheism  to  poly 
theism,  and  would  soon  have  developed  into  a  system  like  that 
of  Rome  where  the  nature  worship  was  merged  in  that  of  the 
personal  deities. 

Very  far  was  all  this  from  the  pure  theism  which  has  been 
poetically  ascribed,  in  the  alleged  belief  in  the  Great  Spirit. 

There  was  however  one  deity  worshipped  throughout 
North  America,  the  all-seeing  one,  the  dweller  in  Heaven, 
the  giver  of  many  blessings,  the  Sun.  To  him  were  paid 
prayer  and  sacrifice  and  thanks  for  such  good  gifts  as  food, 
sunshine,  and  victory  over  the  enemy.  When  the  missionaries 
told  of  the  God  of  the  white  man  and  his  attributes,  the  ac 
count  seemed  credible  to  the  Indian,  who  accepted  much  of  it 
as  further  history  of  his  Sun  God  ;  and  the  sacrifices,  thanks 
givings,  and  offerings  were  still  offered  to  the  Great  Spirit  as  in 
earlier  days  to  the  Sun.  Though  the  preaching  of  Christianity 
made  but  slight  direct  impression  upon  the  observances  and  ac 
tions  of  most  of  the  Red  Men,  it  did  greatly  affect  their  myths 
and  beliefs,  thus  preparing  the  way  for  an  ethical  religion. 

In  the  early  days  the  various  divinities  were  simply  powers 
to  be  propitiated,  but  of  influence  on  conduct  and  morals  there 
was  not  much  more  in  the  Indian  beliefs  and  observances  than 
in  a  gambler's  charms  for  luck.  With  the  belief  in  the 
beneficent  Great  Spirit  there  came  to  be  more  of  a  desire  to 
do  that  which  was  pleasing  in  his  sight.  Finally,  what  may 
be  called  the  third  period  of  Iroquois  religion  was  inaugurated 

234 


THE    NEW    RELIGION 

by  the  reforms  of  Handsome  Lake,  who,  preserving  the  old 
forms,  associated  them  with  the  worship  of  a  single  supreme 
God  and  the  doing  of  righteousness. 

.  In  common  parlance  the  modern  Iroquois  are  divided  into 
Christians  and  Pagans,  but  the  latter  refuse  the  term  Pagan, 
saying  that  they  also  worship  God. 

6        These  visions   have  a  striking   resemblance  to   those 
I.  234,    in  Bunyan's  Pilgrim's  Progress,  and  were  perhaps  sug- 
242      gested  by  that  work,  or   some  other   teaching  of  the 
missionaries  ;   others  suggest  the  classical  eschatology. 

If  confession  had  been  an  ancient  Iroquois  practice,  Lafitau 
would  certainly  have  mentioned  it,  for  he  describes  a  similar 
custom  in  Peru. 

64  The  recent  experiments  made  by    Professor  Atwater 
I-  236    wjth  the  object   of  determining  whether  alcohol  is  a 

food  seem  to  have  been  anticipated  by  those  of  Jimmy  John 
son,  which,  within  their  own  field,  are  quite  as  conclusive. 

65  The     sachems     as     well     as     the     chiefs    were      ex 
L  '77    officio    members  of   the    order    of    Keepers    of    the 

Faith.      (Ancient   Society,  82.) 

55  The  following  statement  of  "  The  New  Religion  " 
I.  218  Was  given  by  a  Seneca  in  1888,  Indian  Proble?n,  II. 
1104  :  uThe  general  belief  is,  one  great  spirit  controls  every 
thing;  God,  he  is  called  in  English,  he  is  a  supreme  power  on 
earth,  everything  ;  and  then  they  believe  in  temperance,  that 
is  the  most  part  of  their  religion^  is  temperance  ;  and  they 
believe  in  thanking,  mostly,  to  the  Great  Spirit,  that  is  the 
most  important  thing ;  most  everything  they  see  they  thank 
him  ;  and  it  is  their  doctrine  to  be  kind  to  one  another,  to  be 
good,  honest  people  ;  and  they  believe  a  man  is  to  have  only 
one  woman  to  live  with  ;  and  they  are  strict  ;  their  doctrine 
is  against  marry  more  than  one  woman  ;  it  commenced  about 
eighty-eight  year  ago  that  way  ;  before  that  we  was  wild  ; 
they  would  murder  one  another,  and  drinking  just  about  that 
time;  there  was  a  good  deal  of  whisky  brought  for  the 
Indians  ;  and  they  had  terrible  times  ;  and  then  they  got  up 

235 


APPENDIX    B 

this  Indian  doctrine ;  and  Handsome  Lake  he  preached  to 
the  Indians  ;  he  was  taken  sick,  they  claimed,  and  some  good 
things  he  showed  to  the  people,  and  everybody  adopted  right 
away  ;  after  that  doctrine  everybody  was  good  ;  everybody  WAS 
good  ;  and  all  shaking  hands  and  all  feeling  good  ;  and  that  is 
the  starting  of  this. Indian  religion  ;  and  along  about  that  time 
a  party  of  Indians  went  to  Washington,  went  to  the  President, 
and  they  showed  their  doctrine,  and,  in  reply,  he  made  —  I 
was  looking  over  some  old  papers,  some  old  Indian  things  - 
it  was  all  coming  to  pieces,  and  I  just  took  a  sketch  of  it,  to 
tell  us  about  the  reply  from  the  President  through  the  Secre 
tary  of  War  ;  I  took  a  sketch  of  it,  and  here  is  the  sketch ; 
it  states  the  date  right  there." 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  paper  referred  to  by 

67 

witness  : 

I.  220  To  Conyodareyab  (or  Handsome  Lake),  with  bis  brethren 
and  associates  of  the  Seneca  and  Onondaga  nations  of  Indians,  now  present 
at  the  seat  of  government  of  the  United  States. 

BROTHERS.  Your  father  and  good  friend,  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  has  taken  into  consideration  all  that  you  communicated 
to  him,  when  you  took  him  by  the  hand  three  days  ago,  and  he  has 
authorized  me  to  give  you  the  following  answer : 

BROTHERS.  The  President  is  pleased  with  seeing  you  all  in  good 
health  after  so  long  a  journey,  and  he  rejoices  in  his  heart  to  find  that 
one  of  your  own  people  has  been  employed  to  make  you  sober,  good 
and  happy,  and  that  he  is  so  well  disposed  to  give  you  good  counsel, 
and  to  act  before  you  such  useful  examples. 

BROTHERS.  If  you  and  all  the  red  people  follow  the  advice  of  your 
friend  and  teacher,  the  Handsome  Lake,  and  in  future  be  sober, 
honest,  industrious  and  good,  there  can  be  no  doubt  but  the  Great 
Spirit  will  take  care  of  you  and  make  you  happy. 

BROTHERS.  The  great  council  of  the  sixteen  fires,  and  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  all  wish  to  live  with  the  red  people  like 
brothers,  to  have  no  more  war  or  disputes,  but  to  pursue  such  meas 
ures  as  shall  contribute  to  their  lasting  comfort.  For  the  purpose,  the 
great  council  of  the  sixteen  fires  are  now  considering  the  propriety  of 
prohibiting  the  use  of  spirituous  liquor  among  all  their  red  brethren 

236 


"THE    LICENSE" 

within  the  United  States.  This  measure,  if  carried  into  effect,  will 
be  pleasing  in  the  sight  of  the  Great  Spirit,  who  delights  in  the  happi 
ness  of  his  common  family. 

BROTHERS.  Your  Father,  the  President,  will  at  all  times  be  your 
friend,  and  he  will  protect  you  and  all  his  red  children  from  bad 
people  who  could  do  you  or  them  any  injury,  and  he  will  give  you 
writing  on  paper  to  assure  you  that  what  land  you  hold  can  not  be 
taken  from  you  by  any  person  excepting  by  your  own  consent  and 
agreement. 

BROTHER.  The  Handsome  Lake  has  told  us  that  your  angels  have 
desired  him  to  select  two  sober,  good  young  men  to  take  care  of  your 
business,  and  that  he  has  chosen  Charles  Obeal  and  Strong  for  that 
purpose.  The  President  is  willing  that  his  red  children  should  choose 
their  own  agents  for  transacting  their  business,  and  if  Charles  Obeal 
and  Strong  are  the  men  who  your  people  can  best  confide  in,  he  has 
no  objection  to  their  being  appointed,  but  it  would  be  improper  for 
the  President  to  interfere  in  your  national  appointments. 

Given  under  the  hand  and  seal  of  the  war  office  of  the  United 
States,  this  ijth  day  of  March,  1802. 

H.  DEARBORN. 


NAMES 

58  "  THE  Indian  has  no  family  name.  His  name  is 
I-  85  single,  and  like  the  praenomen  of  the  Roman  or  our 
Christian  name,  is  purely  an  individual  designation.  The 
family,  in  our  sense,  is  wanting;  so  that  the  names  of  several 
brothers  and  sisters  would  not  suggest  the  fact  of  any  con 
nection  among  them." 

(Their  significance  would,  however,  in  many  cases  show 
the  common  totem.  Powell,  Wyandot  Government,  Bur. 
Eth.,  I.  60,  Text  I.  85,  and  see  infra.) 

"  In  bestowing  and  changing  names  their  customs  are  original 
and  novel.  They  have  names  adapted  to  different  periods  and 
pursuits  of  life ;  one  class  for  infancy  and  childhood  ;  another 
for  manhood  ;  another  for  their  religious  advisers,  called  by  the 
Iroquois,  c  Keepers  of  the  Faith,'  and  another  for  chief  and 
sachem.  These  names  are  not  taken  up  and  conferred  at 

237 


APPENDIX    B 

random,  but  under  fixed  regulations.  Each  clan  has  its  own 
clan  names,  which  are  kept  distinct  and  which  no  other  clan 
is  allowed  to  use.  They  are  family  names ;  for  the  clan  is 
but  a  great  family  of  which  the  chief  is  the  head.  It  is  said 
by  some  of  the  Indian  nations  that  the  names  have  such  clan 
characteristics  that  the  clan  of  an  individual  may  be  known 
from  his  name  alone." 

"  Upon  the  birth  of  a  child,  the  mother,  or  some  relative  in 
her  behalf,  applies  to  the  chief  of  her  clan  for  a  list  of  clan 
names  which  are  not  then  in  use  and  of  the  class  for  children. 
Out  of  those  named  over  to  her  she  selects  such  a  name  as 
pleases  her  fancy,  which  is  then  agreed  upon  as  the  future 
name.  At  the  next  council  the  birth  and  name  of  the 
child,  and  the  name  of  its  father  and  mother  are  publicly  an 
nounced  ;  and  this  was  the  simple  form  of  an  Indian  christ 
ening.  Their  names  are  significant,  as  all  names  originally 
were,  but  with  the  Indian  their  signification  is  still  preserved. 
O-wi-go,  a  c  floating  canoe,'  and  Ga-ha-no,  '  hanging  flower,' 
are  specimens  of  their  childhood  names. 

"At  fourteen  or  sixteen  years  of  age,  the  name  became  un 
suitable,  the  person  having  reached  maturity.  A  new  name 
was  then  selected ;  and  the  taking  away  of  the  old  name  and 
the  bestowal  of  the  new  was  made  in  some  of  the  nations  an 
important  event;  with  this  change  he  ceased  to  be  a  boy,  and 
became  a  man.  He  could  then  go  upon  the  war-path  and 
speak  in  council. 

"The  power  to  make  this  change  was  lodged  primarily 
with  the  chief  of  the  clan.  But  it  might  be  made  either  by 
the  mother  or  by  a  brother  or  sister,  but  never  by  the  father, 
and  it  was  usually  done  without  the  consent  or  even  knowl 
edge  of  the  person  whose  name  was  changed.  If  these  near 
relatives  neglect  to  make  the  change  at  the  proper  time,  it  then 
becomes  the  duty  of  the  chief  to  do  it.  At  the  next  public 
council  the  change  and  the  new  name  are  formally  announced, 
and  it  takes  effect  only  from  the  time  of  this  announcement. 

"  When  a  private  person  is  raised  to  the  dignity  of  chief  or 

238 


NAMES    AND    TITLES 

sachem,  his  former  name  is  taken  away,  and  a  new  name  of 
the  higher  class  is  conferred  in  its  place.  This  name  can 
never  afterwards  be  changed  unless  the  sachem  is  deposed  ;  for 
the  name  itself  is  a  title,  and  with  it  would  pass  away  the  title 
62  or  office  itself.  Neither  can  that  class  of  persons 
who  are  called  c  Keepers  of  the  Faith,'  among  the  Iro- 
quois,  change  their  names  without  giving  up  the  office,  as  these 
names  and  the  office  they  confer  are  inseparable.  Any  other 
person  of  mature  years  may  change  his  own  name,  by  his  own 
motion,  provided  he  can  induce  a  chief  of  some  other  clan 
than  his  own  to  announce  the  change  in  council." 

u  A  clan  may  lend  one  of  their  names  to  a  person  in  an 
other  clan,  which  is  often  done ;  but  when  this  person  dies  or 
his  name  is  changed,  the  name  so  borrowed  returns  again  to 
the  clan." 

"New  names  are  not  now  invented  by  the  Indian  any  more 
than  they  are  by  ourselves ;  but  old  names  are  handed  down  in 
the  clan  as  our  names  come  down  to  us,  but  not  shorn,  as  in 
our  case,  of  their  better  part,  their  primary  signification." 
(Lewis  H.  Morgan,  Amer.  Ass'n  Advct.  Science,  1859,  Vol. 
XIII.) 

(In  the  foregoing  extract  the  words  "tribe"  and  "tribal" 
of  the  original  are  altered  to  "clan.") 

"  It  is  so  arranged  that  if  possible  no  name  is  ever  lost,  so 
that  when  one  of  the  family  is  dead  all  the  relatives  assemble 
and  deliberate  together  which  of  them  shall  bear  the  name  of 
the  deceased,  giving  his  own  to  some  other  relative.  He  who 
takes  a  new  name,  takes  up  also  the  duties  appertaining  to  it,  and 
thus  he  becomes  a  captain  if  the  deceased  was  one.  This  done, 
they  check  their  tears  and  cease  to  weep  for  the  dead,  having 
placed  him  in  this  manner  among  the  living,  saying  that  he  is 
resuscitated  and  has  come  to  life  in  the  person  of  him  who  has 
received  his  name  and  has  rendered  it  immortal.  Hence  a 
Captain  never  has  a  different  name  from  his  predecessor,  as 
formerly  in  Egypt  all  the  kings  bore  the  name  of  Ptolemy." 
(Rel.  1642,  23  J.  £.,  164.) 

239 


APPENDIX    B 

gg      In  the  same  way  each  successive  Governor  of  Canada 

I.  245    Was  called  by  the  Iroquois    Onontio  (Great   Mountain, 
being  a  translation  of  the  name  of  Montmagnv),  each  Governor 
of  Pennsylvania  was   Onas  (a  pen),  Presidents  of  the  United 
States  bore  the  name  given   first  to  Washington.      The  prin 
ciple  was,  of  course,  the  familiar  one  that  the  king  never  dies. 

70  The   Iroquois   language   was,  like   our   own,  a   living 
*•  49     one,  and  words  and  phrases  became  from  time  to  time 

obsolete.  Many  of  our  proper  names  preserve  words  obsolete 
in  general  speech,  and  the  same  was  the  case  with  the  Iroquois. 
They  had  no  written  language  to  conserve  forms,  but  yet  they 
expected  proper  names  to  be  significant,  while  most  of  our 
proper  names  are  meaningless  to  the  uninitiated.  Many  of 
their  names  have  therefore  been  twisted  to  accord  with  a  false 
etymology,  and  the  significance  of  many  others  has  been  for 
gotten,  but  is  now  too  readily  guessed  at.  A  conspicuous  in 
stance  is  the  list  of  Sachems  given  above.  It  is  evident  that 
but  few  of  these  significations  are  reliable.  It  is  the  Indian 
nature  to  desire  to  please,  and  for  all  these  reasons  their  ety 
mologies  should  be  looked  upon  with  suspicion.  For  a  good 
example  see  Thoreau,  The  Maine  IVoods,  p.  193. 

Not  only  was  the   name   of  a  deceased   chieftain   re- 

7 1 

vived  for  his  successor,  but  a  living  person  might  part 

with  his  name  as  a  token  of  friendship.  (Golden,  I.  11,  and 
see  the  story  of  Cornplanter,  text,  I.  205.) 

72  An  Iroquois  must  not  be  addressed  by  his  name.     You 
I.8z    must  say  "  my  brother  "  or  u  my  uncle."   Lafitau,!.  70. 

73  Everywhere  in  the  world  rivers  and  lakes  usually,  and 

II.  61    towns    occasionally,    preserve    the    names    of  earlier 
dwellers   in    the    land. 

"  In  a  list  of  1885  lakes  of  the  United  States,  published  for 
the  Fish  Commission,  285  have  Indian  names,  but  a  larger 
proportion  is  shown  in  rivers  and  streams.  In  a  list  of 
principal  rivers  flowing  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the 
Atlantic,  but  excluding  those  of  the  St.  Lawrence  basin,  724 
have  Indian  names.  By  adding  those  of  this  valley,  the 

240 


ARCHERY 

Pacific  coast,  and  a  multitude  of  small  streams,  the  list  might 
be  doubled."  (Beauchamp,  Indian  Names  in  New  Tork^) 

Half  of  the  States  and  Territories  of  the  Union  and  a  third 
of  the  counties  of  New  York  bear  Indian  names. 

In  New  York,  about  a  hundred  Iroquois  geographical  names, 
besides  many  of  Algonquin  origin,  are  still  in  general  use.  If 
names  of  unimportant  streams  and  alternative  names  of  only 
local  use  are  added,  the  total  of  Iroquois  derivation  would 
probably  be  doubled. 

It  should  also  be  noted  that  many  of  our  geographical  names 
are  simply  translations  of  the  Indian  names  ;  Aurora  (Iroquois 
Deawendote,  Constant  Dawn)  and  Lake  Pleasant  (Algonquin 
Congamuc,  Pleasant  Lake)  are  examples. 

y*  For  Indian  archery  and  its  implements  see  "  North 
I.  296  American  Bows,  Arrows,  and  Quivers,"  S.  R.,  1893, 
p.  631.  From  Gano,  "arrow,"  and  Waano,  "bow,"  Morgan 
compounded  the  word  Ganowanian,  which  he  applied  to  the 
Indians  as  a  generic  term.  Thus  the  Ganowanian  family 
would  be  the  people  of  the  bow  and  arrow.  The  name 
Amerind  has  lately  been  proposed  for  the  same  race. 


LANGUAGE 

--       IN  all  the  tongues  of  the   Iroquoian  stock  the   labial 
II.  62,   consonants  are  absent,  so  that,  as   Lafitau   says,  they 
75       can  talk  with  their  pipe  in  their  teeth.      This  remark 
able   peculiarity  separates  them  not  only  from  their  Algonquin 
neighbors,   but    from    such    peoples    as    the    Sioux,   of   whom 
Morgan  and  others  have  considered  the  Iroquoians  an  offshoot. 
This    characteristic    of   these    languages    is    respectfully   com 
mended    to   the   attention    of  writers    of  fiction,    who  usually 
assume  that   to  procure  a  characteristic    Iroquoian    name,  it   is 
necessary  only  to  stir  a  few  labials  and  a  few  vowels  together. 
Thus,  in  The  Romance  of  Dollar d,  Mrs.  Catherwood  introduces 
a    Huron    girl    of    high    breeding,    one    Massawippa ;     Miss 
Johnston    in  Prisoners  of  Hope  utilizes  a  Conestoga  who  brags 
VOL.  ir.  —  16  241 


APPENDIX    B 

that  he  is  an  Iroquois,  and  calls  himself  Monakatocka  ;  Mrs. 
Mary  P.  Wells  Smith  associates  with  her  Young  and  Old 
Puritans  of  Hatfield  a  beneficent  but  discourteous  Mohawk 
called  Pepoonuck,  and  likewise  Cooper  devised  the  appellation 
Musquerusque  for  an  unpleasant  Huron  who  scalps  and 
tortures  certain  characters  in  Satanstoe. 

According  to   Hale  and  Parker  f  occurs  sporadically 
in  Mohawk. 

-g  Most  Indian  names  of  lakes  and  rivers  are,  so  to 
II.  80,  speak,  relative  rather  than  absolute,  The  Lake  at 
85>  89  Oswego,  The  River  that  leads  to  Onondaga,  so 
that  the  main  stream  and  all  the  branches  of  a  river  may 
be  called  by  a  certain  name  by  people  going  down  stream,  and 
may  have  several  names,  according  to  the  several  destinations, 
in  the  mouths  of  people  bound  up  stream.  So  among  our 
selves  the  same  stretch  of  highway  is  called  the  Boston  Road, 
the  Hartford  Road,  or  the  Main  Street  according  to  the  point 
of  view  of  the  speaker.  The  Indian  point  of  view  is  made 
clear  by  Mr.  Silas  B.  Smith,  a  Clatsop  Indian,  in  a  letter 
printed  in  Wonderland,  1900,  published  by  the  Northern 
Pacific  Railway.  Mr.  Smith  says  : 

"  I  wish  to  state  this  proposition,  which  cannot  be  over 
thrown,  that  the  Indians  in  the  Northwest  country,  extending 
as  far  back  as  the  Rocky  Mountains,  never  name  a  river  as 
a  river;  they  name  localities.  That  locality  may  be  of  a 
greater  or  less  extent,  and  they  may  say  this  water  leads  to 
such  a  place,  or  it  will  carry  you  to  such  and  such  a  place, 
but  never  name  a  stream. 

"  I  know  of  some  very  good  people  who  are  hunting  for  the 

Indian  names   of  the  Columbia  and  its   tributaries,   and  some 

who   have  even  told  me  that  they  had  found  the  name  of  the 

Columbia  ;   but  it  is  a  mistake,  an  entire  mistake,  for  it  is  not 

in  the  book,  and  they  are  simply  chasing  a  'will  o'  the  wisp.'  " 

•  jj       Nor  is   it  always   easy   to   comprehend   or   state   with 

II.  82    precision   the  shade  of  meaning  implied   in  the  Indian 

word.      Mr.    A.    G.    Richmond    told    me    that    Canajoharie 

242 


NO    ABSTRACT     TERMS 

means  "  Pot  that  washes  itself,"  the  reference  being  to  the 
whirling  of  the  water  in  a  large  pot-hole  in  the  bed  of 
the  Canajoharie  Creek.  Morgan's  note  says,  "  Washing  the 
basin."  Beauchamp,  Indian  Names,  gives  also  "Kettle  shaped 
hole  in  the  rocks."  Obviously  here  is  no  difference  of  opinion 
as  to  the  origin  of  the  name,  but  a  divergent  effort  at  trans 
lating  it.  Probably  Morgan  is  nearest  to  the  idea  in  the  mind 
of  the  Indian. 

The  village  of  Canajoharie,  though  several  times  moved  and 
to  points  remote  from  the  creek,  always  retained  the  name. 
Here  we  have  a  suggestion  of  our  place  names  which  are 
usually  meaningless  or  at  least  meaning-lost.  Newport  may 
be  inland,  and  Belmont  a  swamp. 

Of  the  sign  language,  so  important  on  the  prairies, 
^  hardly  a  trace  is  noted  by  writers  on  the  Iroquois.  In 
Northeastern  America  there  were  but  two  tongues,  Iroquoian 
and  Algonquian,  and  little  need  for  a  volapiik.  Nor  was 
there  in  the  forest  the  opportunity  for  signalling  at  a  distance 
that  is  given  on  the  prairie. 

Europeans  have  never  found  the  Iroquois  tongue  easy 
^      to    learn,   but   because   of  differences    in    the   mental 
processes  which  the  language  expresses  rather  than  from  in 
herent  difficulties   of  articulation   and   inflection. 

Many  writers  have  noticed  the  abundance  of  concrete 
terms,  and  the  lack  of  abstract  words.  Thus  for  the  varieties, 
sexes,  and  ages  of  a  single  animal  they  would  have  a  multitude 
of  terms,  but  no  general  word  for  animal.  Or  they  would 
have  words  for  good  man,  good  woman,  good  dog,  but  no 
word  for  goodness.  "  It  is  a  peculiarity  of  the  languages  of 
our  Indian  nations  that,  while  they  are  barren  of  terms  to 
express  metaphysical  or  abstract  conceptions,  they  are  opulent 
in  terms  for  the  designation  of  natural  objects,  and  for  ex 
pressing  relative  differences  in  the  same  object.  In  the  Ojibwa, 
for  example,  there  are  different  names  for  the  beaver  according 
to  his  age,  and  compound  terms  to  indicate  sex,  as  follows," 
etc.  (Beaver,  190.) 

243 


APPENDIX    B 

Again,  as  Lejeune  says  (Re I.  i6j6),  "It  is  remarkable  that 
all  their  nouns  are  universally  conjugated."  Lafitau  puts  this 
more  tersely  (IV.  192),  "Their  language  is  all  verb." 

For  valuable  essays  on  the  Huron  and  Iroquois  languages 
see  Lejeune,  Relation  1636  (10  J.  R.,  116)  and  Hale,  Iraq. 
Book  of  Rites,  p.  99. 

Max  Miiller,  after  studying  Mohawk,  wrote  to  Hale  :  "  To 
my  mind  the  structure  of  such  a  language  as  the  Mohawk 
is  quite  sufficient  evidence  that  those  who  worked  out  such 
a  work  of  art  were  powerful  reasoners  and  accurate  classifiers." 
II.  61,  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  remark  that  when  Morgan 
66,  74  says  that  "  Latin  is,"  in  contrast  to  Greek,  "  a  com 
pound  language,"  he  is  using,  as  often  in  this  chapter  and 
elsewhere,  the  jargon  of  the  science  of  day  before  yesterday, 
but  the  fact  is  worth  noting  as  showing  how  quickly  and 
completely  a  scientific  thesis  can  disappear. 


WAMPUM 

80  DR-  BEAUCHAMP,  as   well    as   Mr.   Morgan,  thought 
n-  52    that  the   Iroquois   had    no  bead   wampum   until   they 

obtained  it  from  the  Dutch.  There  is  however  considerable 
evidence  to  the  contrary,  and  Lafitau  considers  it  as  of  ancient 
use.  In  historic  times  the  Iroquois  obtained  wampum  chiefly 
by  traffic  with  the  Dutch,  but  the  Algonquins  of  the  coast  had 
probably  preceded  the  Dutch  in  this  trade.  In  1666  the 
Mohawks  and  Oneidas  had  a  war  with  some  tribe  called  the 
"  Wampum  Makers "  who  may  have  been  their  original 
purveyors  of  this  article. 

81  The    statement  that  when  one  tribe  called    a  council 
L  I04    it   sent   the    belt    to   the   next,   which    then    took   up 

the  duty  of  sending  the  belt  on,  just  as  the  fiery  cross  was 
sped  in  The  Lady  of  the  Late,  may  be  correct  as  to  later  times, 
but  the  earlier  precedents  are  to  the  contrary.  Several  refer 
ences  in  the  French  writers  indicate  that  it  was  irregular  and 
discourteous  to  send  wampum  by  a  third  party.  The  sender 

244 


WAMPUM    BELT'S 

of  a  belt  should  deliver  it.  A  direct  ruling  on  this  point  is 
found  in  Stone's  Sir  William  Johnson,  II.  90,  91.  The  Onon- 
dagas  had  called  a  general  council  inviting  the  Mohawks,  as 
well  as  Sir  William  Johnson,  to  Onondaga.  The  belt  was 
delivered  to  Johnson  by  the  Oneidas.  Doubting  the  propriety 
of  such  delivery,  he  referred  the  matter  to  the  Mohawks, 
who  advised  him  that  by  their  laws  some  of  the  Onondagas 
should  have  come  down  with  the  belt.  On  this  decision  the 
belt  and  the  invitation  were  rejected.  Moreover,  if  any  but 
the  Mohawks  or  the  Senecas  called  a  council  the  simple 
method  mentioned  in  the  text  would  not  have  availed.  It 
would  have  been  necessary  to  send  at  least  two  belts. 

82       The  giving  and  acceptance  of  wampum  had  much  the 
I-  327    same  effect  in    Iroquois  transactions   that  the  signing 
and  sealing  of  a  contract  or  treaty  has  among  ourselves. 

"  For  having  no  writing  or  letters,  they  supply  the  defi 
ciency  by  the  words  which  they  talk  into  these  belts, 
each  of  which  records  some  particular  affair  or  detail,  and  to 
avoid  confusion  the  belts  are  varied  and  the  white  and  purple 
beads  arranged  in  different  order.  The  Sachems  read  them 
often  together,  so  that  in  this  way  they  do  not  forget  any 
thing."  (Lafitau,  II.  203.) 

In  this  mnemonic  use  the  wampum  has  often  been  compared 
to  the  quipus  of  Peru.  For  more  informal  records  the 
Iroquois  used  wooden  tallies. 


WAMPUM    KEEPER 

g^        AFTER     the    Revolution     the     Onondagas     divided, 

I.  6 1,     those   that   followed  the  fortunes   of  the  king  going 

1 15.327    wjth   the    Mohawks  to  the  Grand  River  in  Canada, 

the  others  remaining   in   New  York.       Each   division  kept  up 

its    tribal    organization,   and    at    the    separation    an    amicable 

division    of  the    Wampums   was    made.      It    is   probable    that 

more   important   Wampums  remained  in  New  York,  being  at 

first  kept  among  the  Onondagas  on   the  Buffalo  Creek  reser- 

245 


APPENDIX    B 

vation,  and  later  in  the  present  reservation  in  the  ancient 
country  of  the  Onondagas.  In  Canada  the  Hoyowenato 
Sachemship  is  continued.  Chadwick  calls  it  Hononweyehde, 
and  says,  u  This  chief  was  hereditary  keeper  of  the  wampum 
and  as  such  was  called  Hotchustanona  "  (Chadwick,  91).  In 
New  York,  however,  the  care  of  the  wampum  passed  to  other 
sachems  and  chiefs. 

Probably  the  last  regular  wampum  keeper  in  New 
York  was  Harry  Webster.  After  his  death,  about 
twenty  years  ago,  his  son  Thomas  Webster  was  appointed. 
This  succession  of  the  son  to  the  father  shows  an  increasing 
laxity  in  appointment  as  it  necessarily  involved  a  change  from 
one  clan  to  another,  and  so  from  one  sachemship  to  another. 
Honowenato  was  a  Wolf  (text,  I.  6 1 ),  but  Thomas  Webster  was 
called  Ha-yah-du-gih-wah,  or  "Bitter  body"  (in  Seneca  Gane- 
adajewake,  text,  I.  61)  and  was  a  Snipe.  Thomas  Webster 
seems  however  to  have  exercised  all  the  functions  of  a  wam 
pum  keeper.  •  He  had  the  custody  of  the  treaties  as  well  as  of 
the  wampum,  and  seems  to  have  regarded  the  latter  as  the 
more  sacred,  for  in  1888  he  produced  the  treaties  before  the 
legislative  committee,  but  declined  to  produce  the  wampum 
"because  the  property  didn't  belong  to  him  alone."  He 
testified  that  he  was  the  wampum  keeper  of  the  Onondaga 
nation,  not  of  the  Six  Nations,  and  the  four  treaties  which  he 
produced  are  all  treaties  with  the  Onondagas  alone.  General 
Henry  B.  Carrington  testified,  in  the  suit  of  Onondaga 
Nation  vs.  Thacher  (infra),  that  he  was  told  that  Webster 
"really  seemed  to  have  second  sight  and  seemed  to  see  things 
through  those  wampums  that  others  did  not  see.  Seemed  to 
see  historical  significance.  Webster's  looking  upon  these 
wampums  was  not  considered  merely  a  curious  inspection, 
but  that  there  was  a  history  of  a  people  involved  in  them, 
and  he  seemed  to  get  grotesque  things  out  of  them."  (On 
ondaga  Nation  vs.  Thacher,  Papers  on  Appeal,  78),  and  from 
Webster's  testimony  (Ind.  Prob.,  I.  497)  it  would  seem  that 
the  supposition  of  second  sight  was  justified.  "  It  is  nothing 

246 


WAMPUM    KEEPER 

for  a  white  man,  it  is  all  for  the  Indians  ;  there  is  a  tree  set 
in  the  ground,  and  it  touches  the  heavens,  and  under  that 
tree  sets  this  wampum  ;  it  sets  on  a  log,  and  the  fire,  coals 
of  fire,  placed  by  the  side  of  it,  and  this  fire  is  unquench 
able,  and  the  Six  Nations  are  all  to  this  council  fire,  held  by 
this  tribe."  Hale  says  that  a  pine  tree  was  the  em 
blem  of  the  Confederacy.  David  Cusick  says,  in  his 
Ancient  History  of  the  Six  Nations,  speaking  of  the  formation 
of  the  League  :  u  At  Onondaga  a  tree  of  peace  was  planted 
reached  the  clouds  of  Heaven  ;  under  the  shade  of  this  tree 
the  Senators  are  invited  to  set  and  deliberate :  .  .  .  the 
Onondaga  was  considered  a  heart  of  the  country;  numerous 
belts  and  strings  of  wampam  were  left  with  the  famous  chief 
as  record  of  alliance."  Nevertheless  Webster  being  in  want 
of  a  horse  and  wagon  sold  four  belts  to  General  Carrington 
for  $75,  the  purchase  being  intended  to  be  for  account  of 
the  United  States.  The  Government,  however,  declined  to 
confirm  the  purchase,  and  General  Carrington  sold  them  for 
his  own  account.  Finally,  they  were  offered  to  the  Board  of 
Commissioners  representing  New  York  at  the  Columbian 
Exposition  held  at  Chicago  in  1893;  tnere  being  no  appro 
priation  available,  the  belts  were  bought  by  one  of  the  Com 
missioners,  the  Hon.  John  Boyd  Thacher,  and  as  his  property 
were  exhibited  during  the  Exposition. 

In  1897  a  su't  was  brought  against  Mr.  Thacher  in  the 
names  of  the  Onondaga  Nation,  certain  individual  Indian 
plaintiffs  and  the  University  of  the  State  of  New  York,  the 
complaint  alleging  that  Webster,  being  only  the  custodian 
and  not  the  owner  of  the  wampums,  could  not  sell  them,  that 
the  University  at  a  council  had  been  raised  up  as  wampum 
keeper,  and  that  it  was  entitled  to  the  possession  of  them. 
The  appointment  of  the  University  was  further  confirmed  by 
chapter  153  of  the  Laws  of  1899.  The  Court  at  Special 
Term  was  of  opinion  that  at  the  date  of  Webster's  sale  to 
General  Carrington  in  1891  the  League  of  the  Six  Nations 
had  no  active  or  actual  existence  nor  any  such  officer  as  a 

247 


APPENDIX    B 

wampum  keeper,  and  found  for  the  defendant  (29  Misc.  428). 
This  decision  was  affirmed  by  the  Appellate  Division  (53  App. 
Dlv.  561),  and  the  Court  of  Appeals  (169  N.  Y.  584) 

The  four  belts  in  question  are  pictured  in  Bur.  Eth.^ 
II.  246  and  following,  and  in  the  Indian  Volume  of  Census 
of  1890,  p.  473.  The  most  important  of  these  belts  is  thus 
described  in  Clark's  Onondaga  :  u  The  several  nations  are 
distinguished  by  particular  squares,  and  these  are  joined  to 
gether  by  a  line  of  white  wampum,  and  united  to  a  heart  in 
the  centre,  implying  the  union  of  hand  and  heart  as  one." 
(See  quotation  from  Cusick  above.)  Another  belt  is  read 
as  recording  the  Treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix  in  1784,  and  shows 
the  Long  House  and  fifteen  figures  with  joined  hands,  thirteen 
of  them  representing  the  thirteen  United  States,  the  two 
others  representing  Washington  and  Todadaho.  In  the 
Census  Volume  it  is  stated  that  the  house  shown  is  the  new 
Capitol,  but  this  is  more -than  doubtful. 

u  Their  belts  are  mostly  black  wampum,  painted  red  when 
they  denote  war.  They  describe  castles  sometimes  upon 
them  as  square  figures  of  white  wampum,  and  in  alliance, 
human  figures  holding  a  chain  of  friendship,  each  figure 
representing  a  nation."  (Sir  Wm.  Johnson  to  Arthur  Lee, 
28  February,  1771.)  The  Canada  Iroquois  still  keep  some 
wampum,  and  belts  have  been  given  and  received  by  them 
within  recent  years.  (Chadwick,  77.) 

Since  the  foregoing  note  was  prepared,  there  has  been 
published  Bulletin  No.  41  of  the  New  York  State  Museum, 
Wampum  and  Shell  Articles  Used  by  the  New  York  Indians. 
This  is  the  most  complete  work  on  the  subject  and  is  well 
illustrated. 

AGRICULTURE 

g         "  THE    extent    to    which    corn    was    grown    among 
1.  191,    these    tribes   will   justify    the    use   of    much    stronger 
**•  3°    language    than    Mr.    Morgan    employs   when    he    de 
clares   that  l  it   cannot  be  affirmed   with   correctness   that   the 

248 


VALUE    OF    AGRICULTURE 

Indian  subsisted  principally  by  the  chase  '"  (Carr,  Mounds 
of  Mississippi  Valley,  S.  R.^  1891.  See  also  text,  I.  320.) 
In  fact  their  diet  was  more  closely  limited  to  agricultural 
products  than  is  that  of  ourselves,  their  successors.  Their 
staple  food  was  corn  in  one  of  its  many  preparations,  the 
most  usual  being  sagamite,  a  thin  hominy  mush.  Eaten 
without  salt  this  was  very  insipid,  and  was  therefore  flavored 
with  dried  fish,  meat,  oil,  or  anything  else  that  could  be 
obtained.  The  Hurons  in  particular  tasted  very  little  meat, 
and  all  the  Iroquoians,  as  already  mentioned,  were  agricultur 
ists.  The  word  sagamite  is  of  Algonquin  origin,  and  being 
used  by  the  Iroquoians  in  speaking  the  lingua  franca  of 
Canada  was  pronounced  by  them  sagawlte.  The  Iroquois 
word  was  onnontara.  A  large  proportion  of  the  Indian 
words  taken  into  the  English  language  are  the  names  for 
corn  preparations  which  the  early  settlers  learned  from  their 
Algonquin  neighbors  ;  such  are  hominy,  samp,  suppawn, 
succotash. 

The   most    important   step    in    Iroquois- development 
^       was  taken  when  they  shifted  to  the  agricultural  basis 
of  subsistence.      A   race  of  mere   hunters  can  never   increase 
greatly  in   numbers  within   its  territory,  still   less  gather   into 
towns  and   establish   states.      Better  dwellings,  the  accumula 
tion  of  property,  monogamy,  opportunities  for  industrial  and 
mental  development,  all  came   in  the  train  of  the  assured  food 
supply.      To   the    Iroquois   agriculture    brought   more 
marked  advantages,  for  beyond  a  little  help  from  the 
men  in  clearing  the  ground  and  at  harvest  time,  the  women, 
who  before  had   been  of  less    importance   in    the   food   quest, 
took  the  entire  burden,  leaving  the  men  free  for  hunting,  for 
councils,  and   for  war.      The  effect  upon  the  military  power 
of  the  tribes   need   not  be  elaborated. 

"  Nothing  worthy  the  name  of  civilization  has  ever  been 
founded  on  any  other  agricultural  basis  than  the  cereals. 
This  appears  to  be  largely  due  to  the  fact  that  the  seeds  of 
the  cereal  grasses  are,  as  compared  with  fruits  and  roots, 

249 


APPENDIX    B 

extremely  rich  in  albumen  and  albuminoids,  the  great  noui- 
ishers  of  the  muscular  and  nervous  systems.  Regarded  as 
stimulants  to  human  activity,  fruits  and  roots  have  a  low 
comparative  value.  Corn  in  this  regard  is  nearly  equal  to  the 
flesh  of  animals.  But  the  most  important  reason  for  the 
superiority  of  cereal  agriculture  as  a  basis  of  social  advance 
ment  only  becomes  apparent  when  the  nature  of  its  methods 
is  considered.  Cereal  agriculture,  alone  among  the  forms  of 
food-production,  taxes,  recompenses,  and  stimulates  labour  and 
ingenuity  in  an  equal  degree.  Populations  which  depend  on 
arboriculture  never  learn  even  the  rudiments  of  the  labour- 
lesson  which  is  the  beginning  of  the  education  of  humanity. 
Root-cultivating  populations  learn  only  the  bare  rudiments  ; 
for  roots  demand  far  less  labour  than  is  necessary  to  keep 
man  in  anything  approaching  to  continuous  employment.  It 
is  the  peculiar  quality  of  cereal  agriculture  that  by  occupying 
man  regularly  during  a  considerable  portion  of  the  year  it 
directly  tends  to  render  the  unit  of  human  labour  a  constant 
quantity  and  to  give  it  new  forms  of  employment.  The 
labour  which  in  the  simplest  form  the  culture  of  cereals  in 
volves  is  in. itself  of  a  varied  character,  and  it  naturally  sug 
gests  further  transformation  of  labour,  the  effect  of  which  is 
to  further  develop  not  only  the  capacities  of  the  soil,  but  the 
industry  and  ingenuity  of  the  cultivator.  When  the  unit  of 
labour  has  once  been  rendered  a  constant  quantity,  the  mate 
rial  of  civilization  has  been  provided." 

<c  .   .   .   Thus  did  nature  to  some  extent  compensate 

America  for  the  want  of  the  great  domestic   animals 

by   endowing   it   with   a  unique   cereal,  the   largest   and   most 

productive   known,  and  capable  of  being  profitably  cultivated 

without  them."      (Payne,  I.  353,  356.) 

86       The  Indians,  like  ourselves,  cultivated  several  varieties 
II  ^28    °^  corni  adapted   to    different  climates  and    different 
uses. 

Among  the    Algonquins,  and   to    a   less  extent   among   the 
Hurons,  the  warriors  worked   in   the  corn   fields  from  time  to 

250 


FOOD    QUEST 

time,  but  the  Iroquois  left  the  actual  planting  and  cultivation 
entirely  to  the  women,  who  had  of  course  some  help  from  the 
children  and  the  slaves.  While  corn  was  the  staple,  the 
Iroquois  cultivated  also  melons,  water-melons,  squashes, 
pumpkins,  beans,  tobacco,  sunflowers,  and  perhaps  peas  and 
(Indian)  hemp.  So  far  as  its  raw  materials  went,  the  Amer 
ican  bill  of  fare  five  centuries  ago  would  have  been  more  satis 
factory  to  ourselves  than  the  European  diet  of  the  same  age. 

g_       Maple  sap  fresh  drawn  was  a  favorite  beverage.     It  is 
I.  1 86,    practically  certain  that   Indians  made  both   syrup  and 
II-  27    SUgar  long  before  they  knew  any  white  men.      (Lafi- 
tau,    III.    140.)      The    Iroquois    earthenware    answered    ex 
cellently   for  the  necessary  evaporation.      The  maple  festival 
is  now  discontinued  by  the  communities  which  have  no  sugar 
trees. 

88       Sullivan's    expedition    in     1779     destroyed     160,000 
I-  I9I    bushels  of  corn  tc  with  a  vast   quantity  of  vegetables 
of  every  kind,"  and  cut  down  innumerable  apple-trees,  1,500 
in  one  orchard. 

8q       The  fields  were  sometimes  in  clearings  in  the  woods 
I-  3°6    at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  town. 
I.  T67    In   ten  or  a  dozen  years  the   bark   houses  of  an   Iro- 
37    quois  village  would  be  rotten  and   infested  with  ver 
min,  the  accessible  firewood  exhausted,  and  the  soil,  constantly 
robbed  but   never  enriched,   less   generous   in   yield.      A  new 
site  would  then  be  selected,  a  clearing  made  in  the  forest,  and 
the  town   moved,  all   the   inhabitants   proceeding  to  the   new 
location,  and  taking  with  them  the  bones  of  their  dead.      This 
necessity  of  moving  and   re-establishing  their  towns  and  fields 
imposed  by  lack  of  domestic    animals   upon   a  people  without 
metal   tools,  added   enormously  to  the  labor  of  the  food  quest, 
and   so  restricted   population   and    prevented    the    increase  of 
wealth. 

Morgan  apparently  did  not  know  much  of  this  usage  when 
he  wrote  the  League.  As  above  mentioned  (Note  42),  it 
caused  frequent  changes  in  the  trails  and  affected  in  many 


APPENDIX    B 

ways  the  life  of  the  people.  It  has  been  attempted  to  estab 
lish  the  length  of  residence  of  a  tribe  in  a  given  district  in  a 
simple  but  ingenious  manner.  If  the  tribe  had  normally  three 
contemporaneous  villages  and  thirty  sites  are  found,  the  occu 
pation  cannot  have  much  exceeded  a  century.  The  character 
of  the  relics  found  also  indicates  the  number  of  sites  aban 
doned  before  contact  with  Europeans.  This  method  of  com 
putation  must  not  be  relied  on  too  implicitly,  for  temporary 
absences  may  have  intervened,  villages  may  have  been  united 
or  divided,  and  sites  may  have  been  reoccupied,  but  it  fur 
nishes  an  excellent  working  hypothesis.  Applied  to  specific 
cases,  it  indicates  that  neither  the  Hurons  nor  the  Iroquois, 
(except  perhaps  the  Senecas)  were  in  full  force  in  their 
historic  territories  before  1500  or  1550. 

go  This  hemlock  tea  is  perhaps  the  beverage  which  the 
I-  3*i  Iroquois  at  Quebec  prescribed  for  Carrier's  scurvy- 
stricken  men  in  1536.  They  called  the  tree  Anneda  (Park- 
man,  Pioneers,  214).  Hemlock  is  O-no-da  in  Mohawk, 
O-neb-da  in  Seneca. 

g!  Squash  is  an  Algonquin  word  which  we  took  along 
H-  34  with  the  article  from  the  aborigines  of  New  England. 

g2  The  Rev.  J.  Daste,  S.  J.,  in  a  letter  printed  in 
H-  34  Wonderland,  1900,  gives  this  account  of  the  first 
meeting  of  the  Flatheads  with  Lewis  and  Clark,  which  he 
obtained  from  the  Indians: 

u  Then  the  two  leaders,  observing  that  the  Indians  were 
using,  for  smoking,  the  leaves  of  some  plant,  a  plant  very 
much  alike  to  our  tobacco  plant,  asked  for  some  and  filled 
their  pipes  ;  but  as  soon  as  they  tried  to  smoke,  they  pro 
nounced  the  Indian  Tobacco  no  good.  Cutting  some  of  their 
tobacco  they  gave  it  to  the  Indians,  telling  them  to  fill  their 
pipes  with  it.  But  it  was  too  much  for  them  who  had  never 
tried  the  American  weed,  and  all  began  to  cough,  with  great 
delight  to  the  party.  Then  the  two  leaders  asked  the  Indians 
for  some  Kinnikinnick,  mixed  it  with  the  tobacco,  and  gave 
again  to  the  Indians  the  prepared  weed  to  smoke.  This  time 

252 


OUR    DEBT    TO    THE    INDIAN 

the  Indians  found   it  excellent,  and  in   their  way  thanked  the 
men  whom  they  now  believed  a  friendly  party." 

The  indebtedness  of  civilization  to  the  American 
I.  134  Indian  has  been  generally  overlooked.  Not  only 
H-  33  Was  he  the  explorer  and  pathfinder  of  the  continent, 
but  he  had  pretty  thoroughly  exploited  its  natural  resources. 
Rather  because  of  the  physical  characteristics  of  the  country 
and  its  lack  of  domesticable  animals  than  from  any  lack  of 
intelligent  enterprise  on  their  own  part,  the  men  of  the  New 
World  were  behind  those  of  the  Old  World  in  culture.  But 
hardly  anything  that  they  were  able  to  discover  had  been  neg 
lected.  They  knew  and  used  almost  every  metal  found  native, 
they  domesticated  the  dog  and  the  llama,  the  only  animals 
capable  of  domestication,  and  they  had  thoroughly  appropriated 
the  vegetable  riches  of  the  continent.  In  the  four  centuries 
of  European  dominion  in  America  hardly  a  single  valuable 
conquest  from  nature  has  been  added  to  those  gained  by  the 
Indian  ;  the  extracting  from  the  ore  of  iron  and  other  non- 
native  metals  being  of  course  excepted. 


MYTHS    AND    LEGENDS 

g^  THE  Indian's  world  was  a  very  different  one  from 
I.  1 60  ours.  Events  which  we  consider  the  effect  of  natural 
forces  regulated  by  laws  certain  though  not  fully  understood, 
were  to  him  the  works  of  living  beings.  Thus,  if  the  corn 
harvest  failed,  it  was  the  work  of  demons.  Earthquakes  were 
caused  by  the  souls  of  the  dead  struggling  to  get  back  through 
the  ground,  and  by  making  a  loud  noise  these  souls  might  be, 
and  as  the  event  proved  were,  frightened  back  and  the  earth 
quakes  stopped.  When  the  Moon's  face  was  hidden  in  an 
eclipse,  she  was  sick  or  angry  and  must  be  helped  or  appeased. 
The  thunder  was  a  noise  made  by  a  great  bird,  and  the  lightnings 
were  fiery  serpents.  The  Milky  Way  was  the  road  of  souls, 
and  the  Pleiades  a  party  of  dancers. 

Thus  their  eyes,  like  other  eyes,  saw  what  they  expected  to 

253 


APPENDIX    B 

see.  When  it  thundered,  Hiawatha  heard  the  great  bird  and 
Horace  heard  Jupiter's  chariot  wheels,  but  neither  is  therefore 
to  be  considered  a  foolish  or  untrustworthy  witness.  The 
history  contained  in  many  Indian  legends  can  therefore  be 
understood,  if  we  are  able  to  translate  the  language  in  which 
it  is  recounted. 

As  a  simple  illustration  of  this  there  is  the  Iroquois  story 
of  the  Great  Buffalo,  and  the  Algonquin  story  of  the  Great 
Moose  with  a  fifth  leg  between  his  shoulders  which  he  used 
to  prepare  his  bed.  Would  a  twentieth-century  man  who 
had  never  seen  or  heard  of  an  ammal  of  the  elephant  species 
be  able  to  give  a  much  better  account  of  a  mammoth  the  first 
time  he  saw  it  ? 

Other  stories  are  simple  folklore  and  have  their  resemblances 
to  those  of  other  peoples.  Here  is  one,  much  abbreviated  : 

An  Indian,  who  deeply  mourned  his  lost  sister,  travelled 
fasting  twelve  days  towards  the  setting  sun  (where  the  village 
of  souls  is),  then  his  sister  appearing  to  him  at  night  and 
returning  each  evening  gives  him  a  dish  of  sagamite.  For 
three  months  he  travels,  thus  sustained,  and  reaches  the  village 
of  souls.  The  souls  were  having  a  dance  in  a  cabin  to  heal 
Ataentsic,  who  was  sick.  Finding  his  sister's  soul,  he  shuts 
her  in  a  pumpkin  which  an  old  man  gives  him  and  takes  her 
home.  Making  a  feast,  he  prepares  to  restore  his  sister's  soul 
to  her  body,  but  a  curious  spectator  lifts  his  eyes  contrary  to 
orders  and  the  soul  escapes. 

Here  we  have  the  story  of  Eurydice,  and  a  suggestion  of 
Peter  Pumpkin  Eater  as  well. 

The  foregoing  is  the  Huron  version  given  by  Le  Jeune 
(Relation  1656,  10  J.  R.,  148),  and  in  a  note  10  J,  R.,  324, 
is  said  to  be  of  Algonquin  origin.  But  Lafitau,  II.  109,  gives 
an  almost  identical  story  as  an  Iroquois  legend. 

Referring  again  to  the  Great  Buffalo  mentioned  in  the  text, 
the  story  may  not  be  very  ancient,  even  if  we  assume  that  it 
referred  to  the  mammoth,  for  it  is  not  impossible  that  the 
mammoth  existed  in  Alaska  at  a  recent  date.  As  for  the 

254 


NEW    TEAR'S    FESTIVAL 

pygmies,  there   may  he  some  alive  yet,  for  Thomas   La  Fort 
and  his  companions  saw  one  in  1870.     Die  Qnondaga- 
Indianer  des  Staates  New  York,  Ch.  L.  Henning,  Globus, 
LXXVI.  199. 

The  Iroquois  legends  were  recounted  on  many  solemn 
occasions.  After  a  funeral  the  evening  was  given  to  the  re 
cital  of  legends  (Rel.  1656-7,  43  J.  R.,  287),  and  when  a 
sachem  was  raised  up  they  were  also  in  order.  In  fact,  at  any 
meeting  or  council  the  myths  and  tales  of  the  origin  of  the 
world  and  of  the  League  were  to  be  expected  as  an  introduction 
to  the  business,  and  this  may  have  furnished  the  suggestion 
for  the  opening  chapters  of  Mr.  Knickerbocker's  History  of 
New  York. 

A  number  of  the  Iroquois  myths  are  recounted  in  a  valuable 
article  by  Erminnie  A.  Smith,  2  Bur.  Eth.,  51  ;  see  also  David 
Cusick's  History  of  the  Six  Nations,  reprinted  in  Dr.  Beau- 
champ's  Iroquois  Trail. 

The  reason  the  legends  were  not   related  in    summer 
I.  162 

was  that  at  that  time  the  spirits  of  nature  were  awake 
and  listening  ;   in  winter  they  hibernated  like  so  many  bears. 

NEW    YEAR'S 

gcj  WITH  Mr.  Morgan's  sympathetic,  not  to  say  ideal- 
!•  J99  ized,  account  of  the  New  Year's  festival  it  is  inter 
esting  to  compare  the  reports  of  observers  who  took  a 
somewhat  Philistine  view  of  the  ceremonies.  In  the  Relation 
of  1655—6  (42  y.  R.,  154)  is  an  account  of  what  Fathers 
Dablon  and  Chaumonot  saw  at  Onondaga : 

"They  not  only  believe  in  their  dreams,  but  they  have 
a  special  festival  for  the  Demon  of  Dreams.  This  festival 
might  be  called  the  Festival  of  Fools,  or  the  Carnival  of 
Wicked  Christians  ;  for  in  it  the  Devil  does  as  it  were  the 
same  things  that  are  done  in  the  carnival  and  at  the  same 
season.  They  name  this  festival  Honnonouaroia.  The  eld 
ers  go  to  proclaim  it  through  the  streets  of  the  town.  We 

255 


APPENDIX    B 

witnessed  the  ceremony  on  the  22nd  of  February  of  this  year 
1656.  As  soon  as  this  festival  was  announced  by  these 
public  cries,  nothing  was  to  be  seen  but  men,  women  and 
children  running  like  madmen  through  the  streets  and  through 
the  cabins,  but  in  quite  a  different  fashion  from  European 
masqueraders.  Most  of  them  are  nearly  naked  and  seem  not 
to  feel  the  cold,  which  is  almost  unbearable  to  those  who  are 
the  best  covered.  It  is  true  that  some  give  no  other  sign 
of  their  madness  than  to  run  half  naked  through  all  the 
cabins ;  but  others  are  mischievous ;  some  carry  water  or 
something  worse  and  throw  it  upon  those  they  meet  ;  others 
take  firebrands,  coals  and  ashes  and  scatter  them  about 
without  caring  on  whom  they  fall.  Others  break  the  kettles 
and  dishes  and  all  the  houseware  that  they  find  in  their  course. 
Some  go  armed  with  swords,  bayonets,  knives,  hatchets  or 
cudgels,  and  pretend  to  strike  with  those  every  one  they  meet, 
and  all  this  continues  until  their  dream  is  guessed  and  fulfilled  ; 
as  to  which  there  are  two  things  quite  remarkable. 

"  The  first  is  that  it  sometimes  happens  that  one  is  not 
clever  enough  to  divine  their  thoughts,  for  they  do  not  state 
them  clearly,  but  by  enigmas,  by  phrases  of  hidden  meaning, 
by  signs  and  sometimes  by  gestures  alone ;  so  that  good 
Oedipuses  are  not  always  found.  Nevertheless  they  will  not 
leave  the  spot  until  their  thought  is  divined,  and  if  one  delays 
too  long,  if  one  does  not  wish  to  divine  it,  or  if  one  cannot, 
they  threaten  to  burn  up  everything ;  which  comes  to  pass 
only  too  often  as  we  came  near  experiencing  to  our  cost. 
One  of  these  idiots  darted  into  our  cabin  and  insisted  that  we 
should  guess  his  dream  and  fulfil  it.  Now  we  had  declared 
at  the  outset  that  we  would  not  obey  these  imaginings,  yet  he 
persisted  for  a  long  time  to  shout  and  storm  and  rave,  but  in 
our  absence,  for  we  withdrew  to  a  cabin  outside  the  village 
to  avoid  these  disturbances.  One  of  our  hosts,  tired  of  these 
shouts,  came  to  him  to  learn  what  he  wanted.  The  maniac 
answered,  c  I  kill  a  Frenchman,  that  is  my  dream  which 
must  be  fulfilled  at  any  cost.'  Our  host  threw  him  a  French 


THE    DREAM    FEAST 

coat,  as  if  it  had  been  taken  from  a  dead  man,  and  at  the 
same  time  began  himself  to  rage,  saying  that  he  wished  to 
avenge  the  death  of  the  Frenchman,  that  his  destruction 
should  be  followed  by  that  of  the  whole  village,  which  he 
was  going  to  reduce  to  ashes,  beginning  with  his  own  cabin. 
Thereupon  he  drove  out  his  relatives  and  friends  and  house- 
people  and  all  the  crowd  which  had  gathered  to  see  the  issue 
of  this  disturbance.  Thus  left  alone,  he  shut  the  doors  and 
set  the  whole  place  on  fire.  At  the  moment  when  every 
body  expected  to  see  the  whole  house  in  flames  Father  Chau- 
monot  came  up,  returning  from  an  errand  of  charity.  He 
saw  an  awful  smoke  pouring  from  his  bark  house  and  being 
told  what  it  was  he  burst  in  the  door,  threw  himself  into 
the  midst  of  the  fire  and  smoke,  threw  out  the  firebrands, 
put  out  the  fire,  and  gently  prevailed  upon  his  host  to  leave, 
contrary  to  the  expectation  of  all  the  populace,  who  never 
resist  the  fury  of  the  Demon  of  Dreams.  The  man  con 
tinued  in  his  fury.  He  ran  through  the  streets  and  cabins, 
shouting  loudly  that  he  was  going  to  set  everything  on  fire 
to  avenge  the  death  of  the  Frenchman.  They  brought  him 
a  dog  to  be  the  victim  of  his  wrath  and  of  the  Demon  of 
his  passion.  '  That  is  not  enough,'  he  said,  c  to  wipe  out 
the  shame  and  the  affront  which  has  been  done  to  me  in 
wishing  to  kill  a  Frenchman  lodging  in  my  house/  A 
second  dog  was  brought  to  him,  and  he  was  appeased  at  once 
and  returned  home  as  quietly  as  if  nothing  had  happened. 

"Please  observe,  in  this  connection,  that  as  in  their  wars 
one  who  has  taken  a  prisoner  often  takes  only  his  plunder  and 
not  his  life,  in  the  same  way  he  who  has  dreamed  of  killing 
some  one  often  contents  himself  with  his  clothes  without 
attacking  his  person.  That  is  the  reason  that  the  French 
man's  coat  was  given  to  the  dreamer. 

"  Let  us  continue. 

"•  Our  host  wished  to  play  his  part  as  well  as  the  others. 
He  dressed  himself  like  a  Satyr,  covering  himself  with  corn 
husks  from  head  to  foot.  He  made  two  women  array  them- 

VOL.  II.  —  17  257 


APPENDIX    B 

selves  like  real  Megaras,  their  hair  flying,  their  faces  black  as 
coal,  their  bodies  covered  with  two  wolf  skins,  each  woman 
carrying  a  club  or  a  great  stake.  The  Satyr  seeing  them  well 
equipped  marched  through  our  cabin  singing  and  howling 
at  the  top  of  his  voice.  Then  climbing  on  the  roof,  he  per 
formed  a  thousand  antics,  shouting  as  if  everything  had  gone 
to  destruction,  which  done,  he  descended,  marched  gravely 
all  around  the  town,  the  two  Megaras  leading  on  and  smash 
ing  everything  they  met  with  their  stakes.  If  it  is  true  that 
every  man  has  a  grain  of  folly  —  since  Stultorum  infinitus  est 
numerus  —  it  must  be  confessed  that  these  people  have  more 
than  half  an  ounce  apiece.  But  there  is  more  to  come. 

u  Scarce  had  our  Satyr  and  our  Megaras  disappeared  from 
view  when  a  woman  rushed  into  our  cabin.  She  was  armed 
with  an  arquebus  which  she  had  obtained  by  her  dream. 
She  shouted,  howled,  sang,  saying  that  she  was  going  off 
to  the  war  with  the  Eries,  that  she  would  fight  them  and 
bring  back  prisoners,  with  a  thousand  imprecations  and  a 
thousand  maledictions  if  the  thing  did  not  come  to  pass  as 
she  had  dreamed.  A  warrior  followed  this  amazon.  He 
carried  his  bow  and  arrows  in  his  hand  and  a  dagger.  He 
dances,  he  sings,  he  shouts,  he  threatens :  then  suddenly 
he  rushes  at  a  woman  who  had  come  in  to  see  this  comedy  ; 
he  levels  the  dagger  at  her  throat,  takes  her  by  the  hair, 
contents  himself  with  cutting  off  a  few  locks,  and  then  with 
draws  to  give  place  to  a  Diviner  who  had  dreamed  that  he 
could  find  everything  that  was  hidden.  He  was  ridiculously 
dressed  and  held  in  his  hand  a  sort  of  caduceus  which  he 
used  to  point  out  the  place  where  a  thing  was  hidden. 
Nevertheless  his  companion  who  carried  a  pot  filled  with 
some  liquor  or  other  had  to  fill  his  mouth  with  it  and  blow 
it  over  the  head  and  over  the  face,  over  the  hands  and  over 
the  caduceus  of  the  Diviner,  who  then  never  failed  to  find 
the  article  in  question.  That  is  all  I  can  tell. 

"  A  woman  came  next  with  a  mat  which  she  spread 
out  and  arranged  as  if  she  wished  to  catch  some  fish. 

258 


THE    DREAM    FEAST 

This  meant  that  we  must  give  her  some  because  she  had 
dreamed  it. 

"  Another  simply  laid  a  mattock  on  the  ground.  They 
divined  that  she  wanted  a  field  or  a  piece  of  ground.  That 
was  just  what  she  had  in  mind,  and  she  was  satisfied  with 
five  furrows  for  planting  Indian  corn. 

"After  that  they  put  before  us  a  little  grotesque  puppet. 
We  declined  it  and  it  was  placed  before  other  persons,  and 
after  they  had  mumbled  some  words  they  carried  it  off  with 
out  further  ceremony. 

"One  of  the  chiefs  of  the  town  appeared  in  wretched  at 
tire.  He  was  all  covered  with  ashes,  and  because  no  one 
guessed  his  dream,  which  called  for  two  human  hearts,  he 
caused  the  ceremony  to  be  prolonged  by  a  day,  and  continued 
his  mad  actions  during  all  the  time.  He  entered  our  cabin, 
where  there  are  several  fireplaces,  stopped  at  the  first,  threw 
ashes  and  coals  into  the  air,  and  at  the  second  and  third  fires 
did  the  same,  but  did  nothing  at  ours,  out  of  respect. 

"  Some  came  fully  armed  and  as  if  they  were  in  combat 
with  the  enemy,  posturing,  shouting  and  scuffling  like  two 
armies  in  battle. 

"  Others  march  in  bands,  and  perform  dances  with  contor 
tions  of  the  body  like  men  possessed.  In  short,  one  would 
never  be  done  if  he  undertook  to  relate  everything  they  do 
during  the  three  days  and  three  nights  that  this  madness  lasts, 
with  such  a  racket  that  one  cannot  find  a  moment  of  quiet. 
Yet  this  did  not  prevent  us  from  conducting  the  regular 
prayers  in  our  chapel,  nor  God  from  making  evident  his  love 
for  these  poor  people  by  some  miraculous  cures  granted  by 
virtue  of  holy  baptism,  of  which  we  will  not  speak  here. 
Let  us  finish  the  account  we  have  begun  of  the  obedience 
which  they  give  to  their  imaginings. 

"  It  would  be  a  cruelty  and  a  sort  of  murder  not  to  give  a 
man  what  his  dream  called  for,  for  the  refusal  might  cause  his 
death.  Therefore  they  may  see  themselves  stripped  of  their 
all  without  any  hope  of  recompense,  For  whatever  they  give 

259 


APPENDIX    B 

is  never  returned  to  them,  unless  they  dream  it  themselves,  or 
pretend  to  dream  it.  In  general  they  are  too  scrupulous  to 
make  such  a  pretence,  which  would,  as  they  suppose,  cause 
all  sorts  of  misfortunes.  Yet  those  are  found  who  disregard 
their  scruples  and  enrich  themselves  by  a  clever  fiction. 

"The  Satyr,  of  whom  we  have  spoken,  seeing  that  a  great 
deal  was  taken  from  his  cabin  on  our  account  because  great 
and  small  dreamed  of  the  French  and  we  would  not  listen  to 
them,  while  he  because  he  liked  us  satisfied  them,  yet  at  length 
wishing  to  repay  himself,  put  on  the  attire  we  have  described, 
and  counterfeited  not  only  the  Satyr,  but  also  the  phantom 
which  he  pretended  had  appeared  to  him  by  night  and  had 
commanded  him  to  get  together  forty  beaver  skins.  This  he 
did  in  this  way.  He  set  himself  to  shout  through  the  streets 
that  he  was  no  more  a  man  but  had  become  a  brute  beast. 
Thereupon  the  elders  held  a  council  for  the  restoration  of  one 
of  their  chiefs  to  his  natural  form.  This  was  accomplished 
as  soon  as  he  had  received  what  he  desired  and  pretended  to 
have  dreamed  of. 

"A  poor  woman  was  not  so  fortunate  in  her  dream.  She 
ran  about  day  and  night  and  got  only  an  illness.  They  tried 
to  cure  her  with  the  ordinary  remedies  of  the  country,  which 
are  emetics  of  certain  roots  steeped  in  water,  but  they  made 
her  drink  so  much  that  she  died  immediately,  her  stomach 
bursting  to  give  passage  to  two  kettles  of  water  which  they 
had  made  her  take. 

"  A  young  man  of  our  cabin  got  off  with  being  well 
powdered.  He  dreamed  that  he  was  buried  in  ashes.  When 
he  woke  he  wished  his  dream  to  come  true,  so  he  invited  ten 
of  his  friends  to  a  feast  to  fulfil  his  dream.  They  acquitted 
themselves  excellently  of  this  commission,  covering  him  with 
ashes  from  head  to  foot  and  stuffing  them  into  his  nose  and 
into  his  ears  and  everywhere.  We  were  disgusted  with  such 
a  ridiculous  ceremony,  but  every  one  else  regarded  it  in  silent 
admiration  as  a  grand  mystery.  Do  not  these  poor  people 
deserve  compassion  ? " 

260 


THE    WHITE    DOG 

Several  incomplete  accounts  of  recent  ceremonies  are  found 
in  the  testimony  annexed  to  Report  on  Indian  Problem,  I.  419, 
425,  448  : 

u  There  was  a  great  deal  of  dancing  and  marching  about 
and  eating  of  all  sorts  of  meat ;  the  white  dog  burning  I  had 
supposed  was  a  sort  of  relic  of  their  idea  of  sacrifice,  but  I 
think  it  is  a  relic  of  the  way  they  did  things,  God  only  knows 
when  and  where,  and  they  keep  it  up  and  it  don't  amount  to 
anything,  only  they  will  keep  burning  the  dog,  because  some 
body  don't  like  it.  They  use  a  white  dog,  and  take  a  great 
deal  of  pains  in  having  a  puppy  ;  and  if  there  are  any  black 
hairs  in  it,  they  pluck  the  hairs  out ;  and  they  are  somewhat 
humane  for  a  people  so  barbarous,  they  kill  him  before  they 
burn  him;  they  strangle  him.  They  wear  the  breech  clout; 
I  think  they  do  not  eat  the  dog." 

u  I  think  last  winter  they  did  n't  burn  the  white  dog  ;  they 
marched  from  the  council-house  to  the  adjoining  house  and 
fixed  up  something  with  ribbons  and  tobacco  and  burned  that 
instead  of  the  white  dog." 

"  The  people  gather  at  the  council-house  in  the  morning ; 
two  men  are  delegated  to  strangle  the  white  dog,  as  near 
white  as  they  can  get  it ;  and  the  people  gather  in  the  mean 
time  ;  and  they  come  to  the  council-house  with  this  dog  across 
the  shoulders  of  one  of  the  men ;  sometimes  the  dog  is  dead 
and  sometimes  he  is  still  alive  ;  he  comes  in  without  saying 
anything  at  all,  the  dog  across  his  shoulder,  and  waits  for  his 
instructions  as  to  what  further  he  shall  do  ;  he  is  finally  told 
where  he  is  to  go,  and  there  he  is  to  prepare  the  dog  for  burn 
ing.  The  dog  is  striped  up  with  different  colored  paints,  and 
in  different  colored  ribbons,  and  brought  back  to  the  council- 
house  ;  another  Indian  will  carry  the  basket  with  tobacco  and 
beans  and  one  thing  and  another;  in  the  centre  of  the  council- 
house  they  build  up  a  platform  with  wood,  lay  a  board  on  that, 
and  the  dog  is  laid  down  on  the  board  ;  the  baskets  of  tobacco, 
beads,  and  so  on  set  beside  him ;  all  the  while  this  is  going  on 
—  there  are  two  divisions  of  that  tribe,  one  is  called  the  Wolf 

261 


APPENDIX    B 

Tribe  and  the  other  the  Bear  Tribe  —  and  they  have  two 
council-houses;  they  separate,  one  gathering  at  the  small 
council-house  and  holding  services  there,  and  the  other  at  the 
large  council-house  at  the  same  time ;  every  little  while  a 
message  will  be  sent  from  one  council-house  to  the  other,  and 
they  will  go  on  with  the  services  ;  these  services  are  going  on 
continually  while  the  white  dog  is  being  prepared  for  burning  ; 
after  everything  is  all  ready,  they  have  one  man  who  is  ap 
pointed  master  of  ceremonies,  and  he  comes  in  and  begins  to 
walk  around  the  platform  where  the  dog  is  lying;  the  chief 
will  sit  on  a  bench  close  by  ;  he  comes  around  and  stops  ;  and 
one  man  steps  up  and  whispers  to  him  ;  he  walks  around  with 
a  sort  of  a  chant,  and  comes  around  again  and  another  one 
speaks  to  him  ;  as  I  understand  that  they  are  sending  through 
this  man  their  wishes  or  confessing  their  sins  to  him,  and  he 
puts  them  into  the  dog  and  they  are  burned  with  the  dog; 
after  that  had  gone  for  some  time,  then  he  shoulders  the  dog 
and  marches  out  of  the  council-house  and  around  it,  I  think 
it  is  three  times,  then  over  to  the  other  council-house,  and 
there  go  through  the  same  performance,  march  around  that, 
out  of  it  and  to  the  place  of  burning;  that  is  about  the  sum 
and  substance  of  the  burning  of  the  white  dog;  they  have 
ceremonies,  I  don't  know  what  they  say.  The  body  of  the 
dog  is  burned.  I  never  heard  of  it  being  eaten.  There  is  no 
obscenity  in  connection  with  the  burning.  Anybody  that 
wishes  to  is  admitted  to  the  ceremony.  The  women  all 
attend  the  burning  of  the  dog.  Their  dances  following  the 
burning  of  the  white  dog  are  very  obscene." 

Other  testimony  was  given  (p.  506)  which  might  indicate  that 
this  festival  was  in  honor  of  the  returning  sun  and  to  celebrate 
the  reproductive  powers  of  nature.  While  we  take  at  Easter 
the  egg  and  the  rabbit  as  symbols  of  life  and  fecundity,  the  Iro- 
quois  symbolism  passes  from  the  pictorial  stage  to  the  dramatic. 
For  details  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  testimony  itself. 

I.  I99    The  date  of  the  New  Year's  feast  was  approximately 
-34   determined  by  the  moon,  but  the  exact  date  was  fixed 

262 


DOG    SACRIFICES 

by  each  village  for  itself.  According  to  the  best  information 
received,  it  must  not  be  earlier  than  the  second  new  moon 
after  the  winter  solstice.  At  this  time  in  the  Iroquois  coun 
try  the  days  of  greatest  cold  are  to  be  expected,  and  the  feast 
no  doubt  assists  the  return  of  the  sun.  While  Father  Dablon 
describes  the  Onondaga  New  Year's  feast  in  1656,  and  Mr. 
Morgan  the  Seneca  feast  of  two  centuries  later,  the  descrip 
tions  are  almost  interchangeable.  In  each  we  have  the  ap 
pointment  of  the  feast,  the  corn-husk  and  bear-skin  dresses, 
the  clubs  carried  by  the  keepers  of  the  faith,  the 

I.  200  t  . 

stirring  of  the  fire  (perhaps  a  relic  or  symbol  of  a  cus 
tom  to  make  new  fire  for  the  New  Year),  and  the  dream  feast. 

96      Whether  the    white    dog  was   anciently   sacrificed   is 

Ip  201  not  so  clear.  Dablon  mentions  the  killing  of  the  two 
dogs,  and  as  he  was  outside  of  the  village  he  may  not  have 
seen  all  the  circumstances  of  their  execution. 

Dr.  Beauchamp  says  (Iraq.  Trail,  85)  :  "  In  its  essential 
feature  of  sacrifice  the  white  dog  feast  seems  quite  modern, 
but  in  point  of  time  it  corresponds  with  the  old  Dream  Feast, 
taking  its  place  and  retaining  some  of  its  features." 

Nevertheless  there  is  much  evidence  that  the  dog  sacrifice 
was  anciently  celebrated  among  the  Iroquois,  though  probably 
not  as  a  part  of  the  New  Year's  celebration. 

In  the  Relation  of  164.2  (23  J.  R.,  52)  is  an  account  of 
the  Huron  New  Year's  festival  called  Ononhouaroia.  It  is 
said  to  be  in  honor  of  all  the  Demons,  and  the  resemblance  to 
our  Halloween  pranks  is  suggested.  The  Dream  Feast  is 
described,  but  no  dogs  are  mentioned.  Lafitau  also  describes 
the  Dream  Feast  without  mention  of  dog  sacrifice.  A  few 
instances  of  dog  sacrifices  among  the  Hurons  and  the  Iro 
quois  may  be  cited. 

Le  Jeune,  Relation  of  1636  (13  J.  R.,  30)  tells  of  a  dog  burnt 
alive  for  the  cure  of  a  sick  woman.      The  burning  alive  is   of 
interest,  as  showing  that  there  was  no  bloodshed. 
j    i         In   the   Relation  of  1642  (23  J.  R.,  158)  we  are  told 
that  the  Hurons  burned  bears,  deer,  and  dogs  in  honor 
263 


APPENDIX    B 

of  the  devil.     This  is  the  same  personage  that  other  writers 
have  called  the  Great  Spirit. 

In  the  Relation  of  164.2  (23  J.  R.,  172)  we  have  a  detailed 
description  quite  like  the  one  above  quoted  from  Report  on 
Indian  Problem.  As  this  was  a  Huron  sacrifice,  not  an  Iro- 
quois,  the  resemblance  is  very  interesting.  A  warrior  had 
dreamed  that  he  had  been  made  captive  and  burned  by  the 
Iroquois,  and  a  semblance  of  captivity  and  torture  was  there 
fore  performed  upon  him.  u  Finally  they  opened  a  way 
out  in  order  that  he  might  escape  from  captivity.  As  he 
went  out  he  seized  a  dog  which  was  held  there  all  prepared 
for  him,  put  it  at  once  upon  his  shoulders,  and  carried  it 
among  the  cabins  as  a  consecrated  victim  of  which  he  made 
a  public  offering  to  the  Demon  of  War,  praying  him  to  accept 
this  semblance  in  place  of  the  reality  of  his  dream.  And  that 
the  sacrifice  might  be  fully  consummated  the  dog  was  killed 
with  a  club,  and  then  was  scorched  and  roasted  in  the  flames, 
and  after  all  this  was  eaten  at  a  public  feast  in  the  same  manner 
as  they  are  accustomed  to  eat  their  captives." 

Le  Jeune,  Relation  of  1638  (Hurons)  :  "Many  of  these 
feasts  are  like  real  sacrifices,  especially  one  where  a  dog  is  killed 
and  eaten,  particularly  on  certain  occasions,  with  such  rites 
and  ceremonies  that  one  can  hardly  come  to  any  other 
conclusion." 

Re/.  1672-3  (57  J.  R.,  146):  "To  Agriskoue  they 
commonly  sacrifice  dogs,  of  which  they  make  a  feast  for  the 
sick." 

Rel.  1676-7  (60  y.  R.,  218):  "I  was  much  grieved  to 
see  a  great  dog  hanging  at  the  top  of  a  painted  pole  as  a  sacri 
fice  to  the  sun."  (This  was  among  the  Algonquin  people  of 
the  Lakes.) 

Marest  to  German  (66  J.  R.,  240)  :  "  There  being  a  pesti 
lence  [among  the  Wabash  Illinois  in  1712  or  thereabouts], 
they  sacrificed  as  many  as  forty  dogs  which  they  carried  on 
the  tops  of  poles,  themselves  singing,  dancing,  and  cutting  a 
thousand  extravagant  capers." 

264 


GAMBLING 

In  the  Journals  of  Sullivan's  army  dog  sacrifices  are  several 
times  mentioned.  "  In  this  town  a  dog  was  hung  up,  with  a 
string  of  wampum  round  his  neck,  on  a  tree,  curiously  deco 
rated  and  trimmed.  On  inquiry  I  was  informed  that  it  was 
a  custom  among  the  savages  before  they  went  to  war  to  offer 
this  as  a  sacrifice  to  Mars,  the  God  of  War,  and  praying  that 
he  might  strengthen  them.  In  return  for  these  favours  they 
promise  to  present  him  with  the  skin  for  a  tobacco  pouch." 
(Lieut.-Col.  Hubley's  Journal,  September  10,  1779.) 

There  is  in  the  Jesuit  Relations  no  distinct  reference  to 
white  dogs,  though  it  is  stated  that  dogs  for  feasts  and  sacri 
fices  must  be  of  a  certain  shape  and  color. 

Parkman  says  directly  (Jesuits,  Ixxxv)  that  the  white  dog 
was  sacrificed  on  an  upright  pole  by  many  tribes. 

It  is  extraordinary  that  Lafitau  refers  to  the  dog  sacrifice 
only  casually  as  an  Algonquin  custom. 

GAMES    OF    CHANCE 

97  THE  Iroquois  were  great  gamblers.  This,  indeed,  as 
I-  237  well  as  the  approval  which  it  received  from  their 
religious  teachers,  is  well  set  forth  in  the  text.  It  will  be 
noticed  that  while  Johnson,  the  prophet  of  the  new  religion, 
condemned  the  use  of  cards  as  a  great  sin  (I.  237),  he  com 
mended  the  peach-stone  game  and  enjoined  its  observance 
(I.  233).  This  was,  of  course,  because  it  was  part  of  their 
religious  system  and  was  used  for  the  cure  of  disease. 

It  appears  by  the  Relation  of  1669-70  that  Father  Pierron 
recognized  that  the  Iroquois  gambling  games  were  interwoven 
with  their  religion,  and  to  counterbalance  them  invented  both 

O  ' 

religious  and  secular  games  of  his  own. 

g       The    Peach    Stone  and   Deer   Button  games   are   ob- 

I.  233,  viously  variants  of  the  same  form  of  gaming.      In  the 

282,290,  former,  wild    plum  stones  were   used   before  peaches 

were   known,   and    these   were    marked    on    one    side 

with   a   hot    stone.      (Charlevoix.)      A   full  account   of   these 

265 


APPENDIX    B 

and  other  variants  of  the  Dice  Game  is  given  in  the 
article  on  "  Chess  and  Playing  Cards  "  by  Mr.  Stuart  Cullin 
(£.  R.  N.  M.,  1896,  p.  665)  with  numerous  quotations  from 
early  writers.  The  text  is  also  here  quoted  at  length. 

In   addition  to  Mr.  Cullin's  citations  the  following   may  be 

r   •  * 

or  interest  : 

Le  Jeune  says  (Relation  1636,  10  J.  R.^  186),  describing 
the  Huron  Game : 

"  The  game  of  dish  is  also  in  great  credit  in  affairs  of 
medicine,  particularly  if  the  sick  man  has  had  a  dream  of  it. 
It  is  purely  a  game  of  chance.  They  put  six  plum  stones, 
white  on  one  side  and  black  on  the  other,  in  a  dish  which 
they  strike  quite  violently  on  the  ground  so  that  the  stones 
bounce  and  turn  up  sometimes  one  side,  sometimes  the  other. 
The  game  is  to  throw  all  white  or  all  black;  they  usually 
play  village  against  village.  They  all  gather  in  a  cabin,  and 
range  themselves  on  poles  arranged  under  the  roof  on  both 
sides.  They  bring  in  the  sick  man  in  his  blanket,  and  he  of 
the  village  who  is  to  shake  the  dish  (for  only  one  of  each  side 
is  appointed  for  that  purpose)  walks  after,  with  his  head  and  face 
,  enveloped  in  his  robe.  They  bet  heavily  and  boldly 

on  both  sides.  When  he  of  the  other  side  holds  the 
dish,  they  cry  with  all  their  voice,  achinc,  achinc,  achinc,  three, 
three,  three,  or  perhaps  ioio,  ioio,  ioio,  praying  that  he  may 
throw  only  three  white  or  three  black.  You  might  have  seen 
this  winter  a  goodly  troop  returning  hence  to  their  villages 
having  lost  their  moccasins  in  a  season  when  there  was 
nearly  three  feet  of  snow,  but  yet  as  cheerful  to  all  appear 
ance  as  if  they  had  won.  The  most  remarkable  thing  that 
I  found  in  this  is  the  frame  of  mind  in  which  they  come 
to  it.  Some  fast  several  days  before  playing;  the  evening 
before,  they  meet  in  a  cabin  and  hold  a  feast  to  discover 
what  will  be  the  result  of  the  game.  He  who  is  chosen  to 
hold  the  dish  takes  the  stones  and  puts  them  just  as  they 
come  into  a  dish  and  covers  it  so  that  no  one  may  put 
his  hand  into  it.  That  done,  they  sing ;  after  the  song  the 

266 


DICE     GAMES 

dish  is  uncovered  and  the  stones  are  found  either  all  white 
or  all  black.  As  to  this  I  asked  an  Indian  if  those  against 
whom  they  were  going  to  play  did  not  do  the  same  on  their 
side,  and  if  they  might  not  find  the  stones  in  the  same  state. 
1  Oh  yes,'  he  said.  'And  yet,'  I  told  him,  call  cannot  win,' 
to  which  he  knew  not  how  to  answer.  He  informed  me  of 
two  other  remarkable  things  :  first,  that  they  choose  to  shake 
the  dish  some  one  who  had  dreamed  that  he  would  win  or  who 
had  a  charm;  moreover  those  who  have  charms,  whatever 
they  may  be,  do  not  conceal  them  but  carry  them  everywhere. 
We  have  one  of  them,  they  say,  in  our  village  who  rubs  the 
stones  with  a  certain  unguent  and  hardly  ever  fails  to  win. 
Secondly,  that  when  they  make  the  test  some  of  the  stones 
disappear  and  again  are  found  some  time  after  in  the  dish  with 
the  others." 

The  Huron  dish,  like  the  Iroquois,  was  of  wood  (Relation 
1639,  17  "J.  R.,  200.)  The  western  tribes  used  woven  baskets 
for  their  plum  stone  game,  and  sometimes  marked  designs  on 
the  stones,  thus  giving  more  variety  to  the  game. 

This  favorite  entertainment  was  perhaps  the  most  absorb 
ing  of  the  Indians'  pursuits.  Loskiel  (p.  137)  tells  of  an  Iro 
quois  game  that  lasted  a  week.  It  is  related  (Relation  1639, 
16  J.  R.,  200)  that  the  extravagance  of  the  Hurons  in  betting 
went  even  to  the  staking  of  their  fingers  to  be  cut  ofF  by  the 
winner,  as  the  Chinese  do  to  this  day. 

The  women  gambled  as  well  as  the  men,  and  had  a  special 
form  of  the  game  wliere  no  dish  was  used,  but  the  stones  were 
thrown  in  the  air  with  the  hand,  to  fall  on  a  skin  stretched  on 
the  ground. 

Lafitau's  account  of  the  Iroquois  game  is  copied  for  com 
parison  with  Morgan's  : 

"  The  favorite  game  of  chance  among  the  Indians  is  a  game 
of  fruit  stones  or  of  little  bones  made  of  the  kneepan  of  the 
moose's  hind  legs,  and  of  other  rounded  bones  of  any  animal. 
They  are  about  twice  the  size  of  cherry  stones  and  made  uni 
formly  oval  or  elliptic.  Although  six  faces  can  be  distinguished, 

267 


APPENDIX    B 

there  are  really  but  two,  larger  than  the  others  and  slightly 
flattened,  losing  a  little  of  their  curve,  on  which  sides  the 
stone  rests  more  naturally,  One  of  these  faces  is  colored 
black  and  the  other  of  a  yellowish  white.  The  number  is  not 
fixed,  the  players  use  more  or  less  as  they  agree.  Still  they 
never  take  more  than  eight,  and  the  usual  number  is  six. 
They  throw  these  stones  into  a  bell-mouthed  wooden  dish 
smooth  and  well  rounded  both  outside  and  in.  This  dish  has 
almost  the  shape  of  a  mess  platter  such  as  is  used  on  ships. 
They  shake  the  stones  a  long  time  in  the  dish,  and  after  having 
thus  shaken  them  they  place  the  dish  on  the  mat,  striking  the 
ground  with  the  dish  to  make  the  stones  jump.  At  the  same 
time  they  give  it  an  impulse  which  makes  it  rotate  a  long  time, 
and  they  still  further  assist  the  movement  that  the  stones  re 
ceive  in  the  dish  so  shaken,  by  a  little  breeze  that  they  make 
with  the  hand  to  make  the  stones  turn  or  fall  in  the  way  they 
wish. 

"  Although  only  two  sides  of  the  stones  are  marked,  one 
white  and  the  other  black,  there  are,  nevertheless,  a  multitude 
of  possible  combinations,  thus  making  the  game  long  and 
interesting. 

"It  is  one  of  the  greatest  pleasures  in  the  world  to  see 
them  play  ;  they  are  so  eager  and  animated.  Although  there 
are  but  two  who  hold  the  dish  for  the  opposing  sides,  it  might 
be  said  that  all  of  them  are  playing  at  once,  for  the  two  but  give 
the  signal  and  all  the  others  follow  their  movements  as  if  they 
all  had  a  hand  in  the  work.  While  one  of  the  players  is  shak 
ing  the  dish,  all  who  bet  with  him  shout  with  one  voice,  re 
peating  incessantly  the  wish  they  make  for  the  fall  and  color 
of  the  stones  •,  while  all  those  on  the  other  side  shout  their 
demands  for  the  opposite  result.  They  utter  their  words  with 
a  surprising  quickness  and  volubility  and  often  they  merely 
clip  them  off;  meanwhile  some  of  them  beat  their  breasts, 
giving  themselves  fearful  blows  and  exercising  so  actively  that, 

268 


GAME    OF    STRAWS 

although  they  are  half  naked,  they  are  at  once  all  in  a  sweat, 
as  if  they  had  played  a  violent  game  of  tennis."  (Lafitau,  IV. 
58.)  He  says  also  that  half  the  village  usually  played  against 
the  other  half,  (i.  e.  phratry  against  phratry). 

The  superior  quality  of  Lafitau  and  Morgan  as  observers, 
will  be  seen  by  comparing  the  various  descriptions  of  the  game 
given  in  Mr.  Cullin's  article  above  cited. 

The  Iroquois  had  another  gambling  game  of  mingled  chance 
and  skill,  called  the  Game  of  Straws.  (Lafitau,  IV.  69.)  The 
Hurons  also  had  this  game.  (Relation  1638,  15  J.  R., 
78.)  The  game  was  difficult,  and  if  any  European  observer 
learned  or  understood  it  he  has  not  succeeded  in  imparting  his 
knowledge. 

MARRIAGE 

no      In  Ancient  Society  Morgan  has  traced  the  evolution  of 
I-  3J3    marriage  through  its  successive  stages.      In  following 
his  classifications  given  below,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  process 
is  one  of  elimination,  the  size  of  the  marriage  group  being  con 
tinually  reduced. 

Consanguine  Marriage  (Latin  Term).  In  this  form  of 
family  group,  now,  happily,  extinct,  each  man  of  the  tribe  was 
nominally  the  brother  and  husband  of  each  woman  of  his  own 
generation.  This  means  simply  that  they  might  lawfully  live 
together,  and  dissolve  their  union  at  any  time  to  form  another 
of  the  same  sort.  The  only  relationships  named  or  recognized 
were,  therefore,  grandparent,  parent,  brother,  sister,  child,  and 
grandchild. 

Punaluan  Marriage  (Hawaiian  Term).  Now  the 
group  becomes  more  restricted.  Each  man  is  the 
husband  of  each  woman  of  his  own  group,  such  a  group 
usually  consisting  of  several  brothers  and  their  wives  or  of 
several  sisters  and  their  husbands.  The  nominal  relationships 
of  the  Iroquois  were  Punaluan  as  elsewhere  explained,  but 
actually  they  had  passed  to  the  next  stage. 

269 


APPENDIX    B 

Syndyasmian  Marriage  (Greek  Term).  This  was  the  con 
dition  of  the  Iroquois  and  of  most  of  the  tribes  of  North 
America  at  the  time  of  the  discovery.  It  formed  a  transition 
stage  between  the  Punaluan  and  Monogamian  families,  and  to 
the  outward  observer  was  a  pairing  dissoluble  at  the  will  of 
either  party,  and  even  when  not  dissolved  importing  no  very 
rigid  conjugal  fidelity.  If  Morgan's  views,  as  to  the  history 
of  marriage,  are  correct,  this  infidelity  was  not  properly  so  called, 
but  was  merely  a  survival  of  the  Punaluan  form  of  marriage. 
In  the  Syndyasmian  stage,  then,  each  man  had  one  chief  wife 
and  each  woman  one  chief  husband,  but  each  was  still  espoused 
to  the  entire  group.  Some  early  observers  report  this  state  of 
affairs  as  simple  licentiousness,  others  as  polygamy  or  polyandry. 
The  reminiscence  of  group  marriage,  no  doubt,  had  its 
share  in  the  interest  and  control  of  the  clan  in  the  marriage 
of  its  members.  When  a  girl  took  a  husband,  it  was  admit 
ting  a  new  member  to  the  marriage  group. 

From  Syndyasmian  marriage  the  road  branches,  the  settled 
agricultural  peoples  moving  usually  towards  monogamy,  the 
wandering  tribes  towards  the  patriarchal  state  and  its  concomi 
tant  polygamy.  Marriage,  to  the  modern  mind,  connotes  one 
of  these  forms.  It  was  once  commonly  supposed  that  polyg 
amy  was  the  earlier  form,  but  the  researches  of  Morgan  and 
others  would  mark  it  as  simply  a  late  offshoot  from  the  main 
stem  which  ends  in  Monogamy. 

Monogamian  Marriage.  This  state,  needing  no  defi- 
'  nition,  had  been  more  nearly  attained  by  the  Iroquois 
than  by  any  of  their  neighbors.  Occasionally  a  self-made  chief 
like  Garakontie  or  Sir  William  Johnson,  set  up  a  family  ap 
proaching  the  patriarchal  type,  but  the  general  tendency  of  the 
people  was  towards  monogamy.  Polygamy  never  became 
lawful. 

The  injunction  of  Johnson  against  intermarriage  with 
whites  has  not  been  effective,  and  the  New  York  Iro 
quois  show  to  the  most   superficial  observer  their  strong  in 
fusion  of  white  blood.      The  case  of  white  women  married  to 

270 


STATUTORY    DIVORCE 

Indians  and  of  their  offspring  is  a  particularly  hard  one,  for 
after  the  death  of  the  husband  and  father  the  widow  and 
children  have  no  rights  in  his  property,  or  even  to  remain 
on  the  reservation.  (See  note  103.) 

IOO  Divorce  continues  to  be  unrestrained  in  practice, 
I.  228,  though  an  effort  at  legal  formalities  is  made.  The 

315  following  papers  in  divorce  actions  show  precisely  the 
extent  to  which  legislation  in  advance  of  public  opinion  is 
effective.  (Report  on  Indian  Problem,  II.  1128-29.) 

TOWN  OF  CARROLLTON,  CATTARAUGUS  COUNTY,  N.  Y., 
December   14,  1887. 

To  THE  PEACEMAKERS'  COURT  OF  THE  SENECA  NATION  OF  NEW  YORK 

INDIANS  UPON  THE  ALLEGANY  RESERVATION  : 

This  is  to  certify  that  I  have  consented  and  agreed  to  grant  a  bill  of 
divorce  to  George  Gordon,  and  live  separate  and  apart  from  each  other 
during  our  natural  life.  And  I  consent  and  hereby  pray  to  the  said 
peacemakers'  court  to  grant  a  bill  of  divorcement  without  delay. 

her 

LUCY  x  GORDON. 

Witnesses  :  mark 

ALFRED  JIMESON, 
M.  F.  TRIPPE. 

PEACEMAKERS'    COURT. 

Held  at  the  residence  of  David  B.  Jimeson  on  the  1 5th  day  of 
December,  1887. 

After  hearing  and  reading  the  petition  of  Lucy  Gordon,  the  court 
ordered  to  grant  a  bill  of  divorce  George  Gordon. 

(Signed)  DAVID  JIMESON,  JR., 

JOHN  LAMPSON, 

Peacemakers  for  the  Seneca  Nation  of  New  York  Indians 
upon  the  Allegany  Reservation,  N.  Y. 
Separate  Certificate. 

JlMESONTOWN,    CATTARAUGUS    COUNTY,    N.    Y. , 

June    i,   1886. 

On  the  first  day  of  June  before  us  personally  came  David  Jimeson, 
Jr.,  husband  of  Amanda,  described  in  the  within  conveyance;  the 
said  David  Jimeson,  being  and  known  to  us  to  be  the  individual  de- 

271 


APPENDIX    B 

scribed  in  and  who  executed  the  said  conveyance,  and  he  acknowl 
edged,  on  private  examination,  that  Amanda  had  two  childs  who  were 
not  belonging  to  the  said  David  Jimeson,  Jr.  That  he  executed  the 
same  freely,  without  any  fear  or  compulsion  of  her. 

(Signed)  DAVID  JIMESON,  JR., 

his 

JOHN  x  LAMPSON, 

mark 
Peacemaker* s  Court. 


PROPERTY 

In   modern   society  every   foot  of  ground  and    every 

I.  318  chattel  belongs  to  a  person,  natural  or  corporate,  or  to 

II.  119   the  state.      In  an  Iroquois  tribe  there  were  owners  of 
a  third  class,  the  houses  and  clans. 

The  individual  owned,  to  use  a  convenient  measure,  only 
what  he  could  carry  with  him ;  his  clothing  and  ornaments, 
the  mat  on  which  he  slept,  his  weapons,  his  pipe,  and  his 
kettle.  These  and  no  more  he  could  take  with  him  when  he 
emigrated,  and  they  were  buried  with  him  when  he  died.  As 
a  member  of  the  house,  clan,  or  tribe,  he  had  a  special  prop 
erty  in  other  chattels  and  in  land  so  long  as  he  was  in  possession 
and  use  thereof  as  a  member  of  the  community.  But  when 
this  relation  ended  his  rights  ended  also. 

The  tribe  had  its  property  also,  —  its  lands,  tenements,  and 
hereditaments.  These  included  (i)  the  territories  which  it 
occupied,  the  boundaries  being,  as  elsewhere  mentioned,  as 
definite  as  those  of  a  modern  state ;  and  by  ownership  of  the 
land  is  meant  not  merely  sovereignty,  but  that  the  tribe  was 
the  actual  and  sole  owner  of  the  fee  of  the  soil.  An  indi 
vidual,  a  house,  or  a  clan  could  acquire  no  right  to  land  be 
yond  the  term  of  actual  occupation.  (2)  Rights  of  toll  from 
persons  passing  through  the  public  domain.  (3)  Rights  of 
hunting,  fishing,  and  trading  in  any  new  countries  discovered 
by  a  citizen.  (4)  The  tribe  had  also  a  public  treasury,  con 
taining  not  only  archives,  records,  and  maps,  but  also  personal 

272 


CLAN    PROPERTY 

property  of  all  kinds,  even  including  slaves,   and    usually   it 
owned  a  council  house. 

Expenses  of  war  (but  a  comparatively  small  portion  of 
these),  of  public  gifts,  and  of  the  entertainment  of  ambassadors 
were  among  the  charges  which  fell  upon  the  public  treasury. 

The  League  had  likewise  its  treasury  and  its  archives. 

Everything  else  belonged  to  the  clan  or  to  the  house,  be 
tween  which,  as  often,  it  is  not  easy  to  discriminate  in  all  de 
tails.  The  house  owned  the  communal  dwelling,  the  chattels 
of  general  use  that  it  contained,  and  all  that  might  be  brought 
into  it  as  trophies  of  war  or  the  chase  or  the  product  of  agri 
culture.  In  brief,  the  product  of  the  labor  of  a  member  of 
the  house  belonged  to  the  house ;  and  as  a  curious  illustration 
of  this  a  newly  discovered  cure  for  disease  was  the  property  of 
the  house. 

The  clan  owned  the  lives  of  its  members  ;  these  lives 
it  might  itself  take,  or  if  any  one  else  took  them  the 
right  to  compensation  belonged  to  the  clan.  As  a  member  of 
the  clan  or  household  an  individual  had  the  right  to  a  place  in 
the  dwelling,  to  a  share  in  its  food  supply,  and  to  the  exclusive 
possession  of  a  field.  When  he  died  or  emigrated  the  clan 
was  his  heir,  or,  more  accurately,  his  administrator.  All 
property  which  by  law  he  might  not  take  with  him,  he  might 
distribute  before  his  departure  ;  but  if  he  failed  to  do  so  it  was 
distributed  by  the  clan,  usually  to  his  nearest  relatives.  If  an 
apartment  or  a  planting  lot  were  abandoned,  it  reverted  to  the 
general  stock,  and  might  with  the  approval  of  the  clan  or  house 
be  occupied  by  another. 

By  the  use  of  the  pronoun  "  he"  it  is  by  no  means  intended 
to  exclude  the  female.  A  woman  might  have  her  individual 
property,  her  ornaments,  or  her  field,  but  for  obvious  reasons 
the  man,  who  was  a  stranger  and  sojourner  in  the  dwelling 
where  he  abode,  would  accumulate  more  separate  estate  than 
the  woman  who  was  of  it. 

The  distinction   of  rich   and   poor  was   known   among  the 
Iroquois,  as  applying  both  to  the  individual  and  to  the  house. 
VOL.  ii.—  18  273 


APPENDIX    B 

Even  in  the  same  clan  one  house  might  be  wealthy  and  the 
other  poor.  Property  might  be  transferred  by  gift  or  pur 
chase,  by  gambling,  as  a  hire  of  labor,  but  rather  as  a  fee  than 
a  wage,  or  in  payment  of  damages  for  a  tort. 

The  common  right  in  food  and  other  chattels  tended  natu 
rally  to  waste  and  poverty,  for  no  one  had  the  right  to  reserve 
that  which  another  might  wish  to  use.  This,  rather  than  im 
providence  properly  so  called,  was  the  reason  why  in  the  In 
dian  household  it  was  commonly  either  a  feast  or  a  famine. 

With  the  increase  of  trade  and  other  changed  conditions  of 
life  which  ensued  upon  the  coming  of  the  whites,  the  desire 
for  private  property  and  the  extent  of  it  increased,  as  came  to 
pass  at  an  earlier  date  among  our  own  ancestors. 

In  the  early  Iroquois  institutions,  however,  Mr.  George  and 
Mr.  Bellamy  would  have  found  much  to  delight  them. 

102  The  following  from  Indian  Problem,  I.  818,  being  the 
L  245  answer  of  the  defendant  in  an  action  of  trespass,  illus 
trates  the  enforcement  of  the  ancient  law  by  modern  methods  : 

IN   PEACEMAKER'S   COURT,    CATTARAUGUS   RESERVATION, 
May  21,  1888. 

I  reply  to  the  complaint  of  Elijah  Jimeson  and  deny  the  complaint 
in  full,  for  the  following  reasons,  to  wit  :  That  ten  days  after  the 
death  of  my  mother,  wife  of  the  complainant,  the  feast  was  held  at  the 
house  of  the  said  complainant,  and  proclamation  was  then  and  there 
declared,  that  all  the  property  now  belonged  to  my  father,  Elijah 
Jimeson,  my  brother  -  -  Jimeson,  and  myself,  and  under  this 
proclamation  I  claim  my  rights  entitled  to  the  premises  and  not  as  a 
trespasser. 

A.  SIM  LOGAN,  JESSE  JIMESON. 

Attorney. 

This  extract  from  the  testimony  of  a  Seneca  before 
the   Legislative   Committee   (Indian   Problem,   I.    791) 

contains  an  excellent  outline  of  an  important  transition  period 

in  the  history  of  human  society  : 

"  I  desire  to  tell  you  a  little  history  about  the  injustice 
of  our  old  ancient  customs ;   you  will  see  by  my  little 
274 


INHERITANCE 

history  that  I  want  to  relate  to  you  what  injustice  there  was 
in  our  old  ancient  customs  of  our  tribal  relations  ;  I  shall  have 
to  commence  some  ways  back  in  order  to  have  you  understand 
it,  then  I  will  show  you  this  law,  why  they  passed  this  law ;  you 
will  see  for  yourself  the  injustice  of  going  by  our  old  ancient 
form  of  government  and  customs;  this  custom  had  been  in 
existence  ever  since  the  formation  of  the  confederacy  of  the 
Five  Nations  of  New  York  Indians  ;  that  was  the  Mohawks, 
Oneidas,  Onondagas,  Cayugas,  and  the  Senecas  ;  that  is  the 
old  confederacy  when  it  was  first  formed,  that  is  about  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  ;  well,  now  it  had  been  in  exist 
ence  ever  since;  in  that  confederacy  it  was  established  that 
there  should  be  eight  clans  in  each  nation ;  I  don't  know  as  I 
can  really  tell  you  only  a  few;  the  Bear  clan,  the  Wolf  clan, 
Deer  clan,  Hawk,  Snipe  clan,  and  the  Beaver  clan,  the  Turtle 
clan,  and  the  Eagle  clan  ;  there  is  the  eight  clans  which  ex 
isted  in  the  Five  Nations,  they  should  all  exist ;  it  was  estab 
lished  that  there  should  be  eight  clans  in  each  nation ;  so 
when  you  go  to  make  a  visit  among  these  Seneca  Indians,  go 
to  visit  with  the  Onondagas,  they  will  inform  him  where  his 
clan  lives  ;  he  will  go  there  and  visit  them,  and  they  will  take 
him  in  as  their  own  relation,  for  all  they  are  of  a  different 
nation  ;  that  was  a  treaty  of  peace  that  was  entered  into  at  the 
time  the  confederacy  was  formed  ;  well,  now,  when  a  Seneca 
Indian  say  I  belong  to  the  Wolf  clan,  well,  now,  I  can  not 
marry  in  the  same  clan  because  it  is  my  own  relation  and  I 
have  got  to  marry  a  woman  of  some  other  clan,  Turtle,  Deer, 
Bear,  or  some  other  clan  ;  well,  now  we  raise  children;  well, 
now,  we  go  by  the  mother's  side  of  the  old  custom;  the 
mother's  side  carries  the  day  —  she  rules ;  my  children  are 
not  related  to  me  ;  the  children  are  related  to  the  mother,  be 
cause  it  goes  on  the  mother's  side ;  they  are  her  children,  and 
the  children  are  of  the  same  clan  with  the  mother ;  I  am  the 
Wolf  clan  and  she  probably  is  Bear  clan,  and  the  children  are 
the  Bear  clan;  so,  it  is  not  his  relation,  only  h's  children; 
when  I  come  to  die,  if  I  have  got  some  kind  of  property,  if  I 

275 


APPENDIX    B 

have  any  property  at  all,  my  relations  come  forward  and  dis 
cusses  the  question  of  my  property  ;  my  own  relation,  this 
Wolf  clan,  Wolf  tribe,  comes  forward  and  settles  the  question 
about  my  property  ;  sometimes  they  will  give  it  among  them 
selves,  divide  among  themselves  what  little  I  had ;  they  did  not 
^  i  have  much  in  those  days,  you  know,  until  lately  ;  not 
over  forty  or  fifty  years  ago  that  we  began  to  accumulate 
property  ;  in  olden  times  they  were  poorer  than  they  are  now-a- 
days  ;  and  sometimes  they  would  not  give  the  children  anything, 
because  they  were  not  my  relations ;  they  would  go  penniless ; 
my  children  was  the  Bear  clan  and  I  am  the  Wolf  clan,  and 
my  relations  comes  forward  and  takes  my  property  and  dis 
poses  of  it  just  as  they  please  ;  that  was  the  custom  those 
days ;  when  this  republican  form  of  government  was  handed 
down  to  us  from  the  State  we  saw  injustice  in  that  old  cus 
tom  ;  we  found  out  it  was  not  right ;  a  man  that  had  a  family 
was  working  for  his  children  and  what  property  he  had,  why 
it  is  his  desire  they  shall  be  benefited  by  it  and  nobody  else  ; 
so,  they  have  abolished  that  law  and  adopted  another;  now, 
you  see  what  my  aim  is  ;  you  can  see  the  injustice  of  going 
by  that  old  custom  ;  they  abolished  that  law  in  the  council,  by 
the  authority  of  the  State  of  New  York  ;  they  had  a  right  to 
make  this  law  ;  they  had  a  right  to  make  all  laws  not  incon 
sistent  with  the  Constitution  of  the  State  of  New  York  or  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  all  internal  regulations 
and  their  by-laws ;  they  had  a  right  to  make  and  they  made 
them;  this  was  in  1854;  now,  then  to-day  we  are  not  gov 
erned  by  the  mother's  side ;  that  is  abolished,  this  old  custom ; 
now  we  are  governed  by  the  men's  side ;  the  men  now  rules 
the  day. 

"  This  is  not  a  statute  of  the  State  of  New  York  ;  this  is  the 
Indian  law,  under  the  authority  of  the  State ;  well,  now,  as  I 
was  telling  you  about  this  history  of  our  old,  ancient  customs 
about  the  death  of  an  Indian,  how  they  disposed  of  his  prop 
erty,  and  not  give  it  to  his  children  ;  this  council  thought  there 
was  injustice  in  it,  so  they  went  to  work  and  annulled  that ; 

276 


LAST:  WILLS 

they  did  n't  really  annul  it,  only  to  make  another  one  to  put 
in  the  place  of  that;  and  here,  it  says:  Section  19.  'The 
last  will  and  testament  made  by  any  deceased  person,  shall  be 
valid  when  made  under  the  following  circumstances  :  Pro 
vided,  the  testator,  at  the  time  of  making  his  last  will  and  testa 
ment  was  of  sound  mind ;  that  he  had  made  provision  in  the 
same  for  all  of  his  children,  if  he  had  any  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  except  those  that  may  not  have  been  members  of  the 
family  at  the  time  of  the  death  of  the  testator,  and  that  they 
had  received  the  value  of  five  dollars  at  the  time  of  separation 
or  since  ;  and,  if  the  testator  had  no  children  or  issue  prior  to 
his  death,  or  shall  have  a  child  born  of  his  wife  within  nine 
months  after  his  cteath,  the  will  shall  be  null  and  void,  if  no 
provision  is  made  therein  for  such  child  ;  the  child  which  is 
born  shall  inherit  the  whole  estate  ;  if  the  testator  has  no  issue, 
he  must  always  will  a  sum  of  not  less  than  one  dollar  to  each 
of  his  parents  and  brothers  and  sisters  ;  but  if  the  testator  de 
sires  to  will  the  whole  of  his  estate  to  his  parent  or  parents,  such 
will  shall  always  be  valid,  notwithstanding  he  may  not  have 
devised  anything  to  his  brothers  or  sisters.' ' 

CAPTIVES 

IO4  THE  statements  in  the  text,  while  of  course  not  made 
I.  331,  on  personal  observation,  are,  in  the  main,  correct. 
335  The  reason  prisoners  were  not  exchanged  was  that 
after  they  had  been  adopted  they  were  Iroquois,  and  to  surren 
der  them  would  be  to  give  up  an  Iroquois  to  a  strange  nation. 
Individuals  who  had  not  been  adopted  might  be  and  often  were 
given  up,  or  rescued  by  their  countrymen.  An  adopted 
prisoner  was  usually  taken  in  place  of  some  member  of  a 
household  who  had  recently  died,  and  might  be  tortured  and 
burnt,  or  saved  alive^  at  the  discretion  of  the  house  which 
owned  him.  From  this  point  of  view  it  was  better  to  be 
adopted  in  place  of  one  who  had  died  by  disease  or  accident 
than  in  place  of  one  killed  in  battle.  The  adopted  citizens 

277 


APPENDIX    B 

were  for  a  long  time  subject  to  suspicion  and  in  danger  of 
their  lives  ;  any  untoward  event,  physical  disability  of  the  cap 
tive,  or  the  mere  caprice  of  their  owners  being  enough  to  order 
them  out  to  be  burnt.  Most  of  these  were  treated  as  slaves, 
but  their  position,  particularly  if  of  Iroquoian  stock,  would 
gradually  improve,  and  in  the  second  generation  no  difference 
would  remain  between  slaves  and  masters.  An  interesting  and 
fortunate  case  of  adoption  is  that  of  the  Jesuit  Milet  taken 
prisoner  by  the  Onondagas  in  1689.  He  had  previously  been 
among  the  Oneidas  as  a  missionary,  and  was  given  to  them, 
they  being  represented  in  the  war  party.  For  some  weeks  he 
remained  in  the  town,  well  treated  but  his  fate  undetermined. 
Then  a  council  was  held  to  decide  the  cases  of  Milet  and 
three  other  Frenchmen.  Two  of  the  others  were  burned,  but 
Milet  was  claimed  by  both  the  Bear  and  Tortoise  clans,  who 
finally  turned  him  over  to  the  Wolf  clan  in  which  he  had 
friends.  "  Through  the  influence  of  the  chief  women,"  says 
Milet,  u  they  showed  me  the  friendliness  of  giving  me  in  the 
place  of  a  sachem  who  had  died  long  before  of  disease,  rather 
than  of  one  killed  in  the  attack  on  the  French."  This  sachem 
was  Hodashateh,  the  first  Sachem  of  the  Oneidas,  and  Milet, 
accordingly,  succeeded  to  the  Sachemship  and  was  soon  in 
good  standing  as  a  member  of  the  council.  (Letter  of  Milet, 
64  7.  £.,  90,  loo.) 

It  was  the  policy  of  the  Iroquois  to  incorporate  the  nations, 
especially  those  of  their  own  stock,  which  they  conquered  ; 
and  the  modern  Iroquois  are  descended  from  Hurons,  Eries, 
Neutrals,  and  Conestogas  as  well  as  from  the  Six  Nations.  By 
this  policy  their  losses  in  war  were  in  a  large  measure  made 
good. 

An  adopted  captive  retaken,  even  in  arms,  by  his  original 
countrymen  would  usually  be  spared,  for  he  was  only  doing 
his  duty  as  a  citizen  of  his  new  tribe.  Those  who  had  volun 
tarily  expatriated  themselves  were  less  likely  to  receive  mercy. 

Several  instances  are  related  of  Hurons  who  transferred  their 
allegiance  to  an  extent  that  seems  particularly  atrocious. 

278 


ADOPTED    CAPTIVES 

These  men,  desiring  to  commend  themselves  to  their  new 
comrades,  used  their  knowledge  of  the  haunts  and  trails  of  the 
Hurons  to  compass  their  destruction.  In  Captain  Church's 
exploits  at  the  end  of  King  Philip's  war,  we  have  instances 
of  Indian  captives  immediately  joining  the  English  against 
their  own  kindred.  Perhaps  a  relic  of  this  institution  of  adop 
tion  may  be  found  in  some  of  the  games  of  boys  of  our 
own  race,  where  a  captive  immediately  joins  his  captors  in 
catching  those  of  his  original  side. 

To  us  slavery  is  a  relic  of  barbarism,  yet  for  the  Onondagas 
it  was  a  step  forward  when  they  perceived  the  wisdom  of  spar 
ing  captives  that  they  might  have  slaves  to  work  their  fields. 
(Rel.  1676,60  J.  R.,  184.)  This  is  truly  an  instance  where 
time  makes  ancient  good  uncouth. 

IMPLEMENTS    AND    FABRICS 

IOe  As  has  been  well  said,  Morgan's  "record  of  later 
II-  4  Seneca  life  is.  priceless."  (Beauchamp,  Aboriginal  Oc 
cupation.}  His  collections  and  descriptions  of  the  articles 
he  found  them  using  and  wearing  are  both  reliable  and  val 
uable.  It  is  usually  Seneca  arts  and  fabrics,  as  well  as  Seneca 
rites  and  customs,  that  are  described  in  the  text ;  but,  this 
specialization  being  kept  in  mind,  Morgan's  work  becomes 
thereby  all  the  more  important  and  serviceable. 

The  articles  of  the  stone  age  he  knew  only  by  hearsay,  and 
therefore  errs  in  speaking  of  some  and  omits  others  altogether. 
Fortunately  it  was  the  enduring  stone,  bone,  and  earthenware 
objects  that  had  gone  out  of  fashion,  while  the  perishable  wood 
and  bark  utensils  and  the  articles  of  clothing  and  ornaments 
were  still  to  be  seen  in  daily  use. 

106      For  an   account   of  the  obsolete  articles  see  Abbott, 

II-  4     Primitive  Industry  (relating  chiefly  to  the  Algonquins 

of  New  Jersey),  and   the   series  of  Bulletins  on   New   York 

articles   prepared    by    Dr.    Beauchamp    for    the    N.    Y.    State 

Museum. 

279 


APPENDIX    B 

The  wooden  handles  of  the  stone  tools  have  disappeared 
as  completely  as  the  arts  of  making  and  using  the  tools,  so 
that,  however  numerously  stone  relics  may  be  found,  they 
give  us  but  an  X-ray  picture  of  the  age  of  which  they  are 
relics. 

IOy  Of  the  Indian  relics  found  in  collections  only  a  small 
1.  168  percentage  come  from  graves.  Village  and  camp  sites 
furnish  most  of  the  finds.  Unfortunately  it  is  only  in  ploughed 
fields  and  on  the  banks  of  lakes  and  rivers  that  articles  are 
readily  discovered,  and  in  such  locations  they  are  usually 
scattered  or  broken.  It  remains  true,  therefore,  that  ex 
cepting  the  very  rare  cases  of  cave  finds,  the  graves  and 
mounds  give  the  best  opportunity  for  finding  relics  unin 
jured  and  in  the  positions  in  which  they  were  placed  by  the 
aborigines. 

It  should  also  be  suggested  that  an  abundance  of  flint  im 
plements  does  not  often  indicate  a  battle,  the  simple  expla 
nation  which  at  one  period  was  usually  assigned  in  such  cases. 

108  The  Iroquois  women  made  great  quantities  of  pottery 
II.  6,  9  from  clay  and  pounded  rock.  Some  of  it  crumbled, 
as  stated  in  the  text,  but  much  is  durable.  The  rim  and 
adjacent  parts  were  ornamented  with  lines  and  dots,  the  lines 
being  almost  invariably  straight.  Impressions  of  finger-nails, 
corncobs,  etc.,  were  also  used  for  decoration,  and  in  later 
times  applied  human  faces  and  figures.  The  manufacture 
seems  to  have  been  continually  carried  on,  and  at  hunting 
and  fishing  stations  as  well  as  at  permanent  towns.  u  The 
inside  is  commonly  black,  and  the  outside  of  the  proper  hue  of 
baked  clay,  varying  much,  according  to  the  material."  (Beau- 
champ,  Earthenware  of  the  N.  T.  Aborigines.)  In  thickness 
this  ware  varied  from  a  twelfth  to  a  quarter  of  an  inch.  The 
vessel  shown  in  the  cut  on  page  9  of  Vol.  II.  has  a  flat 
bottom,  but  this  is  probably  an  error  of  the  artist,  as  the 
rounded  bottom  was  universal.  The  cut  was  not  prepared 
for  Morgan,  but  taken  by  him  from  another  work.  The 
rounded  vessel  could  have  been  set  in  the  ashes,  but  in 

280 


POTTERY— GROOVED    AXE 

ordinary  situations  would  have  required  support  to  hold  it 
upright.  In  Central  America  such  vessels  are  still  in  use 
and  are  set  in  circular  withes  twisted  of  small  branches.  In 
the  Swiss  Lake  dwellings  clay  rings  were  employed  for  the 
purpose.  These  vessels  were  not  washed  or  cleaned  for  fear 
of  wasting  the  contents  (Lafitau,  III.  83)  and  pottery  frag 
ments  are  frequently  found  incrusted  with  the  food  of  former 
centuries.  The  art  of  making  pottery  is  an  important  mile 
stone  on  the  road  from  savagery  to  civilization.  Morgan 
adopted  it  as  the  boundary  between  savagery  and  barbarism. 
(Ancient  Society,  13.  Fiske,  Discovery  of  America,  I.  25,  48.) 
It  implies  permanent  habitations,  agriculture,  and  progress  in 
the  arts,  and  assists  in  improving  the  food  supply,  both  in 
quality  and  quantity,  and  in  developing  the  artistic  sense. 
In  North  America  the  line  separating  the  agricultural  from 
the  non-agricultural  tribes  may  approximately  serve  as  the 
boundary  of  pottery  manufacture,  and  this  line  runs  through 
linguistic  stocks  as  well  as  between  them.  The  agricultural 
Algonquins  made  pottery,  the  other  Algonquins  did  not.  In 
this  art,  as  in  others,  the  Iroquois  surpassed  their  neighbors. 
(Compare  the  Algonquin  specimens  figured  in  Abbott's  Prim 
itive  Industry,  with  the  Iroquois  handiwork  in  Beauchamp's 
Earthenware  of  New  York  Aborigines^ 

IO9  The  usual  corn-mortar  was  of  wood.  See  II.  29. 
IIQ  The  grooved  axe,  as  the  implement  figured  (II.  11) 
II.  ii  under  the  name  of  "stone  tomahawk"  is  commonly 
called,  is  found  generally  in  North  America  and  is  abundant 
in  Algonquin  territory.  (Bur.  Eth.,  1891-92,  62.)  Dr.  C.  C. 
Abbott  tells  (Primitive  Industry,  33)  of  a  cache  of  one  hun 
dred  and  twenty  found  at  Trenton,  N.  J.  The  grooved  axe 
was  an  excellent  implement  for  its  purpose,  and  it  has  been 
supposed  that  it  served  as  the  model  for  that  wonderful  in 
strument  the  American  steel  axe,  the  superiority  of  which 
to  the  wedge  on  a  pole  called  an  axe  in  Europe  needs  no 
demonstration.  The  European  axe  may  very  likely  be  a 
descendant  of  the  bronze  axe  which  Europeans  used  in 

281 


APPENDIX    B 

earlier  times.  So  typical  an  American  implement  is  the 
grooved  axe  that  it  has  been  selected  as  the  trademark  of 
the  United  States  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  as  is  seen  on  the 
back  of  the  Bureau's  Annual  Reports.  In  some  specimens 
a  double  groove  is  found.  The  groove,  whether  single  or 
double,  was  evidently  designed  as  a  means  of  firmly  attaching 
the  blade  to  the  helve.  (S.  R.,  1879,  P-  222.) 

The  European  stone  axes  are  drilled  for  the  handle,  but  the 
grooved  type  alone  is  known  in  America.  These  articles 
were  often  finely  shaped  and  highly  polished.  Lafitau  de 
scribes  this  as  a  tedious  and  difficult  process  (III.  100),  and 
there  is  evidence  that  these  axes  were  used  as  soon  as  they 
had  been  roughed  out  to  the  necessary  shape  and  were 
gradually  perfected  according  to  the  owner's  industry  and 
desires.  Dr.  Abbott  says  (Primitive  Industry,  11)  that  grooved 
axes  were  seldom,  and  the  larger  ones  never,  found  in  graves, 
which  fact  would  indicate  that  this  was  rather  a  tool  than  a 
weapon. 

Mr.  Morgan  is  apparently  in  error  in  mentioning  this  as 
an  Iroquois  weapon  or  implement.  In  fact,  the  absence  of 
the  grooved  axe  from  Iroquois  sites  is  as  typical  as  the  absence 
of  the  labials  from  their  language.  If  they  made  them  at  all, 
it  was  very  rarely,  and  the  few  specimens  found  in  Iroquois 
territory  may  well  have  been  taken  or  bought  from  the 
Algonquins.  The  Iroquois  used  the  plain  hatchet  or  celt, 
and  this  was  sometimes  notched  as  an  aid  to  fastening  it, 
but  never  grooved.  I  have  found  numbers  of  grooved  axes 
in  New  Jersey,  but  have  never  seen  one  in  the  Iroquois 
portion  of  New  York.  (See  also  Beauchamp,  Polished  Stone 
Articles  of  N.  T.  Aborigines,  82.) 

The   grooved    stone   club    head    in   use   among  some 
II.  1 1  .... 

Indian  tribes  is  rarely  if  ever  found  on  Iroquois  sites. 

in      This  needle   was   universally   used  by  all  the  Eastern 
IL  I2    Indians.      (Kellogg,  Good  Old  Times,  94.)      The  next 
time   the    reader  shoots   a   deer    let   him   ask   his  guide   for  a 
toothpick,  and  a  specimen  of  this  needle  will  be  forthcoming. 

282 


CORNPLANTER'S    TOMAHAWK 

112     "The    tomahawk    which    is    so    much    talked    of,  is 

H-  l6    seldom    used    but    to   smoak    thro,   or    to    cut    wood 

with,"   writes    Col.   Guy   Johnson    to    Lord    Geo.   Germain, 

March    12,    1778,   justifying     the    employment    of    Indians 

against   the  Colonists. 

I.  206    tl  The    successor    whom     Cornplanter    selected    was 

II.  1 6    O-ya-wah-teh   (Small  Berry)  known   under  the   Eng 
lish  name  of  Canada.      Upon  the  death  of  Canada  his  effects 
were   distributed    according  to  the    Indian    custom,   and    his 
widow   retained    the   tomahawk  as  a  family  relic.       She    kept 
it  until  obtained  from   her  by  me.      At    the   time  I  purchased 
it,  she  informed   me  that   the  wampum  which  was  sent  with 
the   tomahawk    by   Cornplanter  had    all    been    used   for  other 
purposes,  and  no   part  of  it  could  then  be   had.      The  toma 
hawk,  when   received    from   Cornplanter,  had  in   it  a  different 
handle  from  the  present.      She  described  it  as  being  of  better 
workmanship,   with    numerous    silver    ornaments    upon    each 
side.      Upon    the    inside    was    engraved    the    name    Gy-ant- 
wa-ka  ;    and    upon    the    reverse    the   name   of    John    Andrus, 
who   was  doubtless    the   manufacturer. 

"Although  Cornplanter  designated  his  successor  who  was 
actually  installed,  and  acted  as  a  chief,  Cornplanter  was 
never  in  fact  deposed.  He  ever  had  the  privilege  of  sit 
ting  with  the  chiefs  in  council,  and  had  a  voice  in  their 
deliberations. 

"  He  continued  to  live  upon  his  reserve,  and  died  at  an 
advanced  age  in  1836.  His  reservation  was  known,  and  it 
is  yet  distinguished  bv  the  name  of  Deo-no-sa-da-geh,  signify 
ing  the  "  Burnt  House."  (E.  S.  Parker  in  Fourth  Report  of 
Regents  on  State  Museum.)  The  present  Gyantwaka  is 
Mr.  Joseph  Keppler,  of  New  York. 

jjo      In  the  textile  arts  the  Iroquois  had  progressed  as  far 
I.  255    as  basket  and  mat  making  and  finger  weaving. 

"  Finger  weaving  with  warp  and  woof  must  rank  as 
one  of  the  greatest  of  inventions.  The  Iroquois  manufactured 
belts  and  burden  straps  with  warp  and  woof  of  excellent 

283 


APPENDIX    B 

quality  and  finish,  using  fine  twine  made  of  filaments  of  elm 
and  basswood  bark.  The  principles  of  this  great  invention, 
which  has  since  clothed  the  human  family,  were  perfectly 
realized,  but  they  were  unable  to  extend  it  to  the  production 
of  the  woven  garment."  (indent  Society,  528.) 

Lafitau,  also,   says   that    the    original    design    of   the 

I.  256    garment  was   retained   when   European    fabrics   were 
II-  47    substituted   for    the    original   material.      (See   Lafitau, 

III.    28.) 

TIe      For  illustrations  of  the  various  types  of  snow-shoes 

II.  35    see  "Snow  Shoes  in   the   National    Museum,"    S.  R. 
N.  M.,  1894.      The   Iroquois  and  Algonquin  types  of  snow- 
shoes  are  especially  well  contrived  and   made,  evidently   sug 
gesting  that  these  stocks  or  one  of  them  at  least  had  long 
existed   in   a  land   of  deep   snows. 

In  the  country  in  which  most  of  the  Iroquoians  lived,  the 
snow-shoe  was  indispensable  for  a  full  third  of  the  year. 
Lafitau  says  that  children  learning  to  walk  were  taught  to 
toe  in,  in  order  that  they  might  walk  better  on  snow-shoes 
when  the  time  came. 

u6     The  air-gun  was  not  known  to  the  primitive  North 
II-  37    American  Indians. 

jj«  For  the  use  of  this  pump  drill  for  fire  making,  see 
II-  39  Hough,  "Fire  Making  Apparatus  in  the  U.  S.  National 
Museum,"  S.  R.  N.  M.,  1888.  For  other  uses  see  McGuire, 
"A  Study  of  the  Primitive  Methods  of  Drilling,"  S.  R.  N.  M., 
1894.  The  simple  drill  revolved  between  the  hands  prob 
ably  preceded  the  pump  drill  as  a  fire-making  implement  as 
well  as  for  boring  purposes.  Some  Algonquins  got  fire  from 
pyrites. 

118  In  Dr.  Beauchamp's  list  of  Onondaga  names  of 
II-  57  plants  he  gives  the  following,  "  Jack  in  the  Pulpit, 
Kah-a-hoo-sa,  Indian  cradle.  This  is  very  good,  the 
Indian  cradle  board  having  a  bow  near  the  upper  end, 
over  which  a  covering  is  drawn  to  protect  the  baby's  head." 
^Indian  Names  in  N.  T.,  114.) 

284 


• 


HEALERS 


MEDICINE 

jjg  LAFITAU  (IV.  79  ff.  )  presents  an  interesting  essay 
1.241  on  Indian  medicine.  It  seems  that  there  were  two 
classes  of  practitioners,  healing  the  one  by  art,  and  the  other 
by  science.  The  first  class  treated  ailments  by  physical 
means,  lotions,  decoctions,  steam-baths,  etc.  Many  of  their 
remedies  were  surprisingly  efficacious,  others  operated  rather 
by  violence  than  by  any  special  adaptation  to  the  end.  The 
herbs  which  they  used  were  improved  by  being  gathered  at 
certain  times  and  seasons,  etc.,  and  the  general  method  of 
treating  diseases  was  not  unlike  that  of  remote  communities 
anywhere.  Their  surgery  was  clumsy,  being  performed  only 
with  flint  instruments,  and  to  the  surprise  of  the  French  they 
used  bleeding  only  for  local  congestions,  not  as  the  panacea 
it  was  in  Europe.  They  could  set  broken  bones,  and  in  the 
cure  of  wounds  were  wonderfully  successful.  Lafitau  de 
scribes  the  treatment,  which  consisted  simply  in  keeping  the 
wound  clean  and  sheltering  it  from  the  air.  The  effects  of 
this  therapy  seemed  marvellous  to  Europeans. 

The  other  class,  who  were  held  in  greater  honor  and  were 
better  paid,  taught  that  disease  was  due  rather  to  psychical 
than  to  physical  causes,  and  for  its  cure  they  practised  a 
course  of  treatment  which  may  be  most  briefly  and  intelli 
gibly  described  as,  parva  componere  magnis,  a  sort  of  Heathen 
Science.  The  patient  was  sick  because  of  some  evil  thought, 
or  other  malevolence  acting  upon  his  spirit,  and  could  be 
cured  only  by  the  spiritual  efforts  of  the  healer,  exerted  in 
both  present  and  absent  treatment,  and  often  accompanied 
by  much  blowing,  reciting  of  rituals,  exercises,  jugglery,  etc., 
etc.  Since  this  class  of  healer  did  not  recognize  the  existence 
of  disease,  no  knowledge  of  anatomy  was  necessary.  Occa 
sionally  they  made  a  slight  concession  to  the  widespread 
belief  that  disease  has  a  physical  cause  and  exhibited  a  stone, 
stick,  or  other  object,  which  they  pretended  to  have  extracted 

285 


APPENDIX    B 

from  the  patient,  alleging  that  it   had   been   implanted   in   his 
body  by  the  malevolence  of  witch,  demon,  or  other  enemy. 


CHILDREN 

I20      "THE   severest    punishment    that   they    inflict    upon 
I.  232    small    children    is   to   throw  water  in   their  faces  or 
threaten  them   with   it."     (Lafitau,  II.  289.) 


AGED 

I2i  THE  custom  of  putting  to  death  the  aged  and  help- 
!•  l65  less  is  widespread.  It  was  intended  as  an  act  of 
kindness,  not  as  a  cruelty,  and  thus  we  get  a  better  under 
standing  of  many  of  the  stories  of  New  England  captives. 
A  prisoner,  unable  to  march,  was  tomahawked  as  an  act  of 
mercy,  in  preference  to  leaving  him  to  perish  by  starvation  in 
the  wilderness.  The  Iroquois  had  the  custom,  but  when  the 
reason  for  it  did  not  exist,  it  was  of  course  not  practised. 
Thus  a  cripple  who  could  not  be  carried  on  a  journey  would 
be  despatched,  as  would  a  young  infant  whose  mother  had  died, 
or  an  old  person  belonging  to  an  indigent  house.  If  the  house 
were  wealthy,  the  old  would  be  preserved  alive.  So  whenever 
a  town  was  taken,  whether  by  French  or  by  Americans,  there 
were  found  helpless  old  people,  left  behind  because  unable  to 

depart  when   the  town  was  abandoned.      Since   many 
I.  244 

of  the   distinguished   and   active  lived   far  beyond  the 

century,  the  imagination   falters  in  the   attempt  to  number  the 
years  of  some  of  these  venerable  pensioners. 


JAVELIN    GAME 

122      FOR  a   folk  tale  of  the  prairies,  in  which  the  motive 

L  289    is  furnished  by  this  javelin  game,  see  "  The  Girl  who 

was  the  Ring,"  by  Geo.  Bird  Grinnell,  Harper's,  February,  1901. 

286 


THE    LONG    HOUSE 


DANCES 

I2o     THE   following  is  a  literal  copy  of  a  manuscript   list 

I-  278    of  dances,  written  by  Nicholson   Parker  (Da-ah-de-a) 

and  now  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Harriet  Maxwell  Converse. 


1 .  Ga-nah-yastate 

2.  Go-na-o-oh 

3.  A-da-wah 

4.  Os-clo-wah-go-wa 

5.  Ga-ya-dah 

6.  Oh-gi-wa  or 


Wa-dek-we-oh 
A-to-wi-sus 


9.  Oh-gi-wa  Ga-ya-doh-ge-aah 

10,  De-yoh-dah-so-dai-goh 

i  T  .  Ga-no-dah 

12.  Jih-dose 

13.  Jih-dose 

14.  Jiha-yah 

15.  Ga-joh-o-a-noh 

1 6.  Ga-da-s-yot 

17.  Nya-gwaih  O-a-noh 

1 8.  De-gi-yah-goh  O-a-noh 

19.  Gaah-go-waah  O-a-noh 

20.  Knos-dah-gee-kaah 


2 1 .    De-yo-da-nas-hon-tah 

21.     Ga-nes-do-gah-ceh  de-ye-nyot 


New  Years. 

Thanksgiving  dance.  Thanks  to  the 
Great  Spirit. 

War  song. 

Feather  dance. 

Game  of  chance. 

Maple  sugar  dance.  Principally  got 
up  by  women  and  mixed  with  other 
dances,  with  thanks. 

Green  corn  dance. 

Woman  dance  and  woman  gives  the 
pitch  of  the  song  and  all  join  in 
standing  in  two  rows,  and  men  occa 
sionally  join  by  war  song. 

Woman  dead  song  for  all  night. 

Woman  song  dance,  for  Pigmies  with 
berry  wine. 

Medicine  song. 

When  patient  is  let  go. 

Song  and  dance. 

Charm  song. 

Fish  and  mixed. 

Trotting  dance. 

Bear  dance. 

Buffalo  dance. 

Peigeon  dance. 

Nude  dance.  2  men  and  2  women 
face  each  other  when  time  com 
mences  over  dancers  change  places. 

Circle  dance. 

-hah. 


THE    LONG    HOUSE 

I24     "THE   Iroquois  Long-houses   disappeared  before  the 
I-  3°8    commencement  of  the  present  century.     Very  little  is 

287 


APPENDIX    B 

now  remembered  by  the  Indians  themselves  of  their  form  and 
mechanism,  or  of  the  plan  of  life  within  them.  Some  knowl 
edge  of  these  houses  remains  among  that  class  of  Indians  who 
are  curious  about  their  ancient  customs.  It  has  passed  into 
the  traditionary  form  and  is  limited  to  a  few  particulars.  A 
complete  understanding  of  the  mode  of  life  in  these  long- 
houses  will  not,  probably,  ever  be  recovered."  (Morgan, 
Houses ,  122.) 

Thus  it  happens  that,  although  the  Long  House  has  been 
often  described,  there  is  much  disagreement  as  to  the  particu 
lars  of  its  construction  and  use.  Rather  curiously  the  variance 
is  more  serious  in  the  dimensions  and  occupation  of  these 
buildings,  which  any  one  might  observe,  than  in  the  details  of 
the  architecture,  to  record  which  more  care  is  necessary.  It 
will  be  seen  that  Morgan's  specifications  in  the  League  agree 
fairly  well  with  those  of  Lafitau  given  below. 

As  this  is  the  nearest  approach  to  a  complete  technical  ac 
count  of  the  architecture  of  these  interesting  buildings,  a  trans 
lation  by  an  architect  rather  than  by  a  layman  seemed  to  be 
indicated,  and  Mr.  Michel  M.  LeBrun  has  kindly  prepared 
the  following  translation  expressly  for  this  work  : 

"  It  is  not  without  reason  that  the  name  of  Hotinnonsioni 
or  Builders  of  Cabins  has  been  given  to  the  Iroquois  ;  they 
are  indeed  the  most  comfortably  lodged  of  all  America. 
Nevertheless,  this  name  is  not  so  exclusively  their  property 
that  it  cannot  be  also  applied  to  the  Hurons  and  to  some  other 
of  their  neighbors,  who  have  adopted  from  them  the  same 
manner  of  building. 

"  These  cabins  are  also  in  the  form  of  a  vault  or  garden  ar 
bor;  they  are  five  or  six  fathoms  wide,  high  in  proportion, 
and  vary  in  length  according  to  the  number  of  fires.  Each 
fire  adds  twenty  to  twenty-five  feet  to  the  length  of  a  cabin  of 
a  single  fire,  which  does  not  exceed  thirty  or  forty  feet.  Each 
of  these  cabins  rests  on  four  posts  for  each  fire  which  are  the 
base  and  support  of  the  entire  structure.  Around  the  entire 
circumference,  that  is  to  say,  all  the  length  of  the  two  sides 

288 


LA  FIT  AITS    SPECIFICATIONS 

and  the  two  gable  ends,  pickets  are  planted  to  secure  the  pieces 
of  elm  bark  which  form  the  walls  and  which  are  bound  to 
gether  with  strips  made  from  the  interior  coating  or  inner  bark 
of  white  wood.  The  square  frame  being  raised,  the  roof 
framing  is  made  with  poles  bent  to  the  form  of  a  bow,  which 
also  are  covered  with  pieces  of  bark  a  fathom  long  and  a  foot 
or  fifteen  inches  wide.  These  pieces  of  bark  lap  one  over  the 
other  like  slate.  They  are  secured  outside  with  fresh  poles 
similar  to  those  which  form  the  roof  frame  underneath,  and 
are  still  further  strengthened  by  long  pieces  of  saplings  split  in 
two.  These  run  along  the  whole  length  of  the  cabin,  from 
end  to  end,  and  are  fastened  to  the  extremities  of  the  roof,  on 
the  sides,  or  on  the  wings,  by  pieces  of  wood  cut  with  hooked 
ends,  which  are  regularly  spaced  for  this  purpose. 

"  The  pieces  of  bark  are  prepared  a  long  time  before  using. 
They  are  removed  from  the  trees,  after  girdling,  when  the  sap 
is  rising,  because  then  they  are  more  easily  stripped  off;  and 
after  the  outer  surface,  which  is  too  knotty,  has  been  removed 
from  them,  they  pile  them  compactly  one  on  the  other  that 
they  may  not  warp,  and  thus  they  are  left  to  dry.  The  poles 
and  the  wood  necessary  in  building  the  structure  are  prepared 
in  the  same  way,  and  when  the  time  has  come  to  commence 
work,  the  youth  of  the  village,  for  whose  encouragement  a 
feast  has  been  provided,  are  invited,  and  in  a  day  or  two  all 
the  work  is  set  up,  more  from  the  multitude  of  hands  working 
upon  it  than  by  the  diligence  of  the  workers. 

"After  the  body  of  the  building  is  finished,  those  for  whom 
it  is  especially  intended  work  leisurely  to  embellish  the  interior 
and  to  make  the  necessary  compartments  after  their  usages  and 
needs.  The  middle  space  is  always  the  place  of  the  fire,  from 
which  the  smoke  escapes  by  an  opening  made  directly  above  it 
in  the  roof,  and  which  serves  also  to  give  light.  These  build 
ings  being  without  windows  are  only  lighted  from  above  in 
the  same  manner  as  the  celebrated  Rotunda  built  by 
'  Agrippa,  which  may  still  be  seen  entire  in  Rome. 
This  opening  is  closed  by  one  or  two  movable  pieces  of  bark, 
VOL.  ii.  — 19  289 


APPENDIX    B 

which  are  moved  back  and  forth  as  desired  during  the  heavy 
rains  or  certain  winds  which  would  cause  a  back  draft  for  the 
smoke,  and  render  the  cabins  very  uncomfortable.  I  speak 
here  only  of  the  cabins  built  like  those  of  the  Iroquois; 
as  those  which  are  round,  or  are  built  in  the  manner  of 
an  ice  cellar,  have  not  even  the  opening  in  the  top,  so  that 
they  are  both  darker  and  the  inmates  more  of  a  prey  to  the 
smoke. 

"  Along  the  fires  there  extends  on  each  side  a  platform  of 
twelve  to  thirteen  feet  in  length  by  five  or  six  in  width  and 
nearly  as  high.  These  platforms,  shut  in  on  all  sides  except 
that  towards  the  fire,  serve  as  beds  and  as  chairs  to  sit  down 
upon ;  on  the  bark  which  forms  the  floor  of  the  platform  they 
spread  rush  mats  and  furs.  On  this  bed,  which  is  hardly  a  fit 
support  for  the  effeminate  or  lazy,  they  stretch  themselves  with 
out  ceremony,  wrapped  in  the  same  clothes  that  they  wear 
during  the  day.  They  hardly  know  what  it  is  to  use  a  pillow. 
Some  of  them,  however,  since  they  have  seen  French  ways, 
make  pillows  of  wood  or  of  mats  rolled  up.  The  more  lux 
urious  ones  use  them  made  of  skin  and  stuffed  with  the  hair  of 
the  deer  or  the  moose  ;  but  in  a  little  while  they  are  so  greasy 
and  dirty  and  are  so  disgusting  to  look  at  that  it  is  only  such 
slovenly  people  as  these  savages  who  could  endure  them. 

"  The  base  of  the  platform,  on  which  they  sleep,  is  elevated 
at  most  one  foot  from  the  ground  ;  it  is  given  this  elevation 
to  avoid  the  dampness,  and  it  is  not  greater,  on  the  other  hand, 
to  avoid  the  inconvenience  of  the  smoke  which  is  insupport 
able  in  the  cabins  when  standing  erect,  or  even  a  little  raised. 

"  The  bark  which  covers  the   platforms   above   and    which 

forms  the  ceiling  of  the  bed,  serves  them  as  a  closet  and  larder, 

where  they  place,  in  the  view  of  every  one,  their  dishes  and 

all  the  little  utensils  of  their  household.      Between   the  plat- 

^^    forms  are  placed  large  chests  of  bark,  in  the  form  of 

tuns,  and   five  or  six   feet  high,  where  they  put  the 

corn  when  shelled, 

"The  cabins  of  the  Iroquois  have  two  exits.      At  each  end 

290 


DOORS    AND    VESTIBULES 

there  is  a  kind  of  separate  lobby  or  small  apartment  and  an 
exterior  vestibule. 

"There  are  in  these  lobbies,  as  well  as  in  the  free  space  be 
tween  the  platforms,  small  closets  on  the  two  sides  where  they 
place  the  mats  of  straw  or  reeds  which  are  for  the  young 
people  when  the  family  is  numerous,  or  for  their  own  use  in 
the  seasons  when  the  vicinity  of  the  fire  is  no  longer  so  neces 
sary.  These  closets  are  raised  three  or  four  feet  to  insure 
them  from  the  importunity  of  the  fleas ;  below  is  placed  the 
supply  of  small  wood. 

"The  exterior  vestibule  is  closed  in  winter  with  pieces  of 
bark  and  serves  them  as  a  shed  for  large  wood,  but  in  summer 
it  is  opened  to  the  air  on  all  sides,  and  some  in  the  warmest 
weather  place  their  mats  on  the  roofs  of  these  vestibules, 
which  are  flat,  and  not  raised  as  high  as  the  cabins.  They 
sleep  thus  in  the  air  without  minding  the  evening  damp. 

"  While  it  is  possible  to  walk  back  and  forth  in  the  cabins 
on  either  side  of  the  fires  between  the  hearths  and  the  mats, 
it  is  nevertheless  not  a  comfortable  place  for  a  promenade  ; 
moreover,  the  savage,  wherever  he  is,  unless  he  is  actually 
travelling,  is  always  either  seated  or  lying  down,  and  never 
walks.  They  are  even  as  surprised  to  see  the  Europeans 
walking  back  and  forth  over  the  same  path  as  were  the  peo 
ple  of  Spain,  of  whom  Strabo  speaks,  who  seeing  some  Cen 
turions  of  the  Roman  army  thus  walking  supposed  them  to 
have  lost  their  wits,  and  offered  to  conduct  them  to  their 
cabins.  For  they  thought  that  they  should  either  remain 
quietly  seated  in  their  tents,  or  that  they  should  desire  to 
fight. 

"  The  doors  of  the  cabins  are  pieces  of  movable  bark,  sus 
pended  outside  by  the  top,  without  lock  or  key.  In  former 
days  nothing  was  locked  with  the  savages.  When  they  went 
for  a  long  time  abroad,  they  contented  themselves  with  closing 
their  doors  with  a  bar  of  wood,  to  protect  them  from  the  dogs 
of  the  village.  During  all  the  centuries  that  have  preceded 
us,  they  have  lived  in  perfect  security,  and  without  much 

291 


APPENDIX    B 

protection  from  one  another  ;  the  most  suspicious  would  leave 
their  most  precious  belongings  with  friends,  or  would  bury 
them  in  holes  made  expressly  under  their  mats,  or  in  some 
secret  place  in  their  cabins.  Some  now  have  chests,  or  small 
boxes,  others  fortify  their  cabins  by  gables  formed  of  rudely 
made  boards,  and  in  them  put  doors  of  wood  with  locks  which 
they  buy  of  the  Europeans,  whose  vicinity  has  frequently 
taught  them,  at  their  expense,  that  what  they  have  closed  is 
not  always  in  security. 

"  They  double  their  doors  to  protect  themselves  from  the 
cold  and  the  smoke  ;  and  make  what  seems  like  a  second  door 
with  blankets  of  skins  or  wool.  In  the  common  and  ordinary 
cold  weather,  their  cabins  are  sufficiently  warm,  but  when 
the  northwest  winds  blow  and  there  occurs  one  of  those  severe 
Canadian  spells  which  last  seven  and  eight  days  in  succession, 
and  are  cold  enough  to  split  stones,  then  the  cold  having  pen 
etrated  in,  I  cannot  understand  how  they  can  endure  it,  being 
as  little  covered  as  they  are,  especially  those  who  sleep  far 
from  the  fire. 

"  During  the  summer  they  are  cool  enough,  but  full  of  fleas 
and  bed-bugs,  they  are  also  very  unsavory  when  they  dry 
their  fish  in  the  smoke."  (Lafitau,  III.  9.) 

In  Houses,  Morgan  alters  materially  the  description  given  in 
the  League,  and  if  the  Jesuits  and  others  who  lived  in  these  dwell 
ings  are  to  be  believed,  his  amendments  are  not  improvements. 
He  says  :  "  The  c  long-house  '  of  the  Iroquois  was  from  fifty 
to  eighty  and  sometimes  one  hundred  feet  long. 

"The  interior  was  comparted  at  intervals  of  six  or  eight 
feet,  leaving  each  chamber  entirely  open  like  a  stall  upon  the 
passage  way  which  passed  through  the  centre  of  the  house, 
from  end  to  end. 

"  At  each  end  was  a  doorway  covered  with  suspended 
skins.  Between  each  four  apartments,  two  on  a  side,  was  a 
fire  pit  in  the  centre  of  the  hall,  used  in  common  by  their 
occupants.  Thus  a  house  with  five  fires  would  contain 
twenty  apartments  and  accommodate  twenty  families,  unless 

292 


WHAT    EARTRAM    OBSERVED 

some  apartments  were  reserved  for  storage.  They  were 
warm,  roomy,  and  tidily  kept  habitations.  Raised  bunks 
were  constructed  around  the  walls  of  each  apartment  for 
beds."  (Houses,  p.  120.) 

It  will  be  observed  that  Morgan  says,  in  the  League,  that  a 
five-fire  house  would  be  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  long 
and  contain  ten  families,  which  accords  exactly  with  the 
statements  of  the  Jesuits  and  of  Champlain,  while  according 
to  Houses,  such  a  house  would  be  but  eighty  feet  long,  and 
yet  would  contain  twenty  families. 

The  description  in  the  League  is  from  Seneca  tradition. 
Morgan  changed  it  after  reading  Bartram's  Observations,  made 
on  his  journey  to  Onondaga  in  1743. 

u  We  alighted  at  the  council  houfe,  where  the  chiefs  were 
already  afiembled  to  receive  us,  which  they  did  with  a  grave 
chearful  complaifance  according  to  their  cuftom  ;  they  fhew'd 
us  where  to  lay  our  baggage,  and  repofe  ourfelves  during  our 
ftay  with  them  ;  which  was  in  the  two  end  apartments  of 
this  large  houfe.  The  Indians  that  came  with  us,  were  placed 
over  againft  us;  this  cabin  is  about  80  feet  long,  and 
17  broad,  the  common  paflage  6  feet  wide;  and  the  apart 
ments  on  each  fide  5  feet,  raifed  a  foot  above  the  paifage 
by  a  long  fapling  hewed  fquare,  and  fitted  with  joifts  that 
go  from  it  to  the  back  of  the  houfe  ;  on  thefe  joifts  they  lay 
large  pieces  of  bark,  and  on  extraordinary  occafions  fpread 
matts  made  of  rufhes,  this  favour  we  had  ;  on  thefe  floors 
they  fet  or  lye  down  every  one  as  he  will,  the  apartments 
are  divided  from  each  other  by  boards  or  bai'k,  6  or  7  foot 
long,  from  the  lower  floor  to  the  upper,  on  which  they  put 
their  lumber,  when  they  have  eaten  their  homony,  as  they  fet 
in  each  apartment  before  the  fire,  they  can  put  the  bowel  over 
head,  having  not  above  5  foot  to  reach  ;  they  fet  on  the 
floor  fometimes  at  each  end,  but  moftly  at  one  :  they  have  a 
fhed  to  put  their  wood  into  in  the  winter,  or  in  the  fummer, 
to  fet  to  converfe  or  play,  that  has  a  door  to  the  fouth  ;  all 
the  fides  and  roof  of  the  cabin  is  made  of  bark,  bound  faft  to 

293 


APPENDIX   B 


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APPENDIX    B 

poles  fet  in  the  ground,  and  bent  round  on  the  top,  or  fet 
aflatt,  for  the  roof  as  we  fet  our  rafters  ;  over  each  fire  place 
they  leave  a  hole  to  let  out  the  fmoak,  which  in  rainy  weather 
they  cover  with  a  piece  of  bark,  and  this  they  can  eafily  reach 
with  a  pole  to  pufh  it  on  one  fide  or  quite  over  the  hole,  after 
this  model  are  moft  of  their  cabins  built,  figure  annexed." 

Bartram's  description  being  unquestionable  authority  for 
what  he  saw,  and  his  diagram  being  the  only  contemporaneous 
plan  extant,  Morgan  apparently  distrusted  the  correct  informa 
tion  which  the  Senecas  had  given  him  and  sought  to  plan  a 
communal  dwelling  on  the  Bartram  dimensions.  Knowing 
from  the  ash-pits  found  on  village  sites  the  distance  between 
fires,  he  was  obliged  to  make  each  fire  serve  four  families  and 
to  place  the  fires  at  the  partitions,  a  most  inconvenient  and 
somewhat  dangerous  location,  if  the  partitions  were  as  long  as 
his  diagram  indicates  ;  but  of  partitions  running  further  across 
than  the  width  of  the  bed,  or  of  "  chambers  like  stalls,"  there 
is  no  evidence  in  the  early  writers,  and  some  of  them  ex 
pressly  say  the  contrary.  Nor  could  Morgan  have  con 
sidered  that  the  "  raised  bunks  constructed  for  beds  around 
the  walls  "  of  these  diminutive  apartments  would  have  been 
very  comfortable  resting-places.  In  the  Bartram  house,  if 
placed  around  all  the  walls,  two  of  the  bunks  would  have  been 
five  feet  long  and  the  other  three  feet.  Apparently  Morgan 
felt  the  difficulty,  for  his  own  diagram  shows  eight-foot  com 
partments.  Mr.  Fiske,  Discovery  of  America, .  I.  66,  copies  the 
description  and  diagram  from  Houses,  and  has  thus  given  them 
a  wide  circulation.  The  six-foot  compartments,  and  also 
the  four  families  to  a  fire,  were  probably  both  exceptional 
arrangements,  and  should  not  be  accepted  as  typical.  In  the 
accompanying  plans  Morgan's  and  Bartram's  diagrams  are 
reproduced,  and  a  new  ground  plan  is  presented,  prepared  from 
Lafitau's  description.  Morgan  had  the  key  to  the  dimen 
sions  when  he  figured  them  in  lengths  of  the  human  body, 
the  unit  used  to-day  in  building  forest  camps.  The 
Jesuit  writers  do  the  same,  giving  dimensions  in  fathoms 

296 


COUNCIL    HOUSES 

(Brasses),  and  the  Bartram  plan  uses  the  same  unit.  Some  of 
the  apartments  shown  on  the  Bartram  plan  were  probably 
used  for  storage,  so  that  the  only  material  difference  between 
Bartram  and  Lafitau  is  that  Bartram's  beds  are  one  man  lone, 

to' 

and  Lafitau's  two  men.  For  this  a  reason  may  be  found  in 
the  special  uses  of  the  Bartram  building. 

Bartram  and  his  party  were  ambassadors,  and  so  were  quar 
tered  not  in  an  ordinary  dwelling  but  in  the  council-house,  which 
was  especially  arranged  for  the  accommodation  of  visitors  and 
for  feasts  and  assemblies.  Such  use  being  but  temporary,  the 
apartments  were  small,  like  those  in  a  summer  hotel,  and  each 
apartment  consisted,  as  Bartram  describes  it,  and  as  his  plan 
plainly  indicates,  of  a  single  bunk,  five  by  seven,  in  which  he 
and  his  two  companions  could  lie  comfortably  or  u  set  before 
the  fire,"  for  there  was  a  fire  between  each  pair  of  opposite 
apartments  in  this  house  as  in  others.  Over  these  bunks  was 
the  platform  where  they  placed  their  goods.  It  was,  more 
over,  necessary  to  reduce  the  span  of  this  platform  in  a 
council-house,  because  of  the  great  weight  which  might  come 
upon  it.  The  short  distance  between  the  fires  was  also  a 
convenience  during  councils.  Light  is  thrown  on  this  sub 
ject  from  a  curious  source.  In  September,  1637,  there  was 
brought  to  the  Huron  village  of  Tondakhra  an  Iroquois  pris 
oner  named  Saouandanoncoua,  who  was  tortured  in  the  war 
council-house.  This  house  must  have  been  about  the  size  of 
Bartram's,  for  it  contained  eleven  fires  six  feet  apart,  and  up 
and  down  the  house  through  and  around  these  fires  Saouan 
danoncoua  was  driven  till  he  dropped,  while  the  old  men 
watched  the  entertainment  from  their  places  above  u  upon 
a  sort  of  platform  which  runs  on  each  side  the  entire  length 
of  the  cabins,  while  the  young  men  were  below,  but  so  crowded 
that  they  were,  so  to  speak,  on  top  of  each  other,  until  there 
was  scarcely  passage  along  the  fires."  (Le  Jeune's  Rel.  1637, 
13  y.  R.-)  60).  It  is  possible  that  an  unusual  number  of  fires 
may  have  been  lighted  for  this  entertainment,  but  the  prob 
abilities  are  the  other  way. 

297 


APPENDIX    B 

The  conclusions  reached  are,  therefore,  that  the  unit  of 
measurement  in  the  construction  of  these  houses  was  the 
length  of  the  body  ;  that  there  were  no  partitions  except  the 
boxing  in  of  the  beds  and  store-closets  ;  that  in  the  ordinary 
dwelling,  when  there  was  no  special  reason  for  compression, 
each  family  occupied  a  division  eighteen  or  twenty  feet  in 
length,  consisting  of  a  bunk  two  beds  long  and  additional 
room  for  storage  ;  that  in  the  middle  alley  there  was  a  fire 
for  each  opposite  pair  of  such  divisions;  and  that  there  were 
normally  four  beds  but  only  two  families  to  a  fire. 

The  statements  in  the  League  as  to  the  size  of  the  apart 
ments  and  the  usual  number  of  families  to  a  fire  may  thus  be 
accepted,  though  there  may  have  been  a  reduction  in  the 
number  of  fires  at  times  because  of  scarcity  of  wood  or  for 
other  reasons.  As  to  the  size  of  the  houses,  they  seem  to 
have  varied  in  width  from  twenty  to  thirty  feet.  The  Bar- 
tram  house  could  be  narrower  because  of  its  special  uses.  In 
length  the  extreme  recorded  is  three  hundred  feet.  (Bresani, 
Rel.  1653,  38  7  R->  246.)  The  height  was  nearly  equal  to 
the  width. 

Gen.  John  S.  Clark's  studies,  and  especially  his  field  work, 
make  him  the  first  authority  on  this  subject,  and  since  this  note 
is  not  in  accord  with  Morgan's  latest  views,  General  Clark's 
opinion  was  asked.  He  replies  under  date  of  September  2, 
1901:  "  The  account  given  by  Bartram,  pp.  40,  41,  with 
the  illustration,  is  the  most  trustworthy  account  that  I  have 
seen  as  to  the  dimensions  of  a  'long  house'  and  the  size  of 
the  compartments.  Van  Curler  says  in  1634-5  they  are 
1  100 — 90  or  80  paces  long  and  22  to  23  feet  high.'  This 
appears  to  be  somewhat  exaggerated.  Cartier's  illustration, 
found  in  Ramusio,  p.  380,  shows  an  arrangement  of  four, 
rour  and  five  compartments  to  a  fire.  These  are  supposed 
to  have  been  Hurons.  Champlain's  illustration  of  the  Iro- 
quois  Castle,  1615,  gives  a  general  idea  of  the  outer  appear 
ance  of  the  long  house,  but  gives  no  details  of  the  internal 
arrangements.  I  conclude  that  the  size  of  the  compartments 

298 


STANDARD    DIMENSIONS 

in  some  cases  depended  on  circumstances.  A  large  village 
crowded  within  the  limits  of  a  palisaded  enclosure  would  be 
restricted  to  less  space  than  such  as  described  by  Bartram  in 
1750,  where  the  houses  were  scattered  for  some  distance  up 
and  down  the  valley.  A  large  family  would  require  more 
room  than  a  small  one,  and  undoubtedly  more  than  one 
compartment  would  be  assigned  to  a  family  of  eight  or  ten 
persons.  The  descriptions  in  the  Jesuit  Relations  agree  sub 
stantially  with  Bartram's  account  of  an  alley  six  feet  wide 
and  compartments  about  six  feet  square  with  fires  in  the 
centre  of  the  alley  for  every  four  compartments.  The  house 
was  sometimes  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long.  The  stand 
ard  Iroquois  house  was  from  eighteen  to  twenty-two  feet 
wide."  For  references  to  the  illustrations  in  Ramusio  and 
Champlain,  see  note  21. 

The  vestibules  mentioned  by  Lafitau  and  Bartram,  but 
ignored  by  Morgan,  were  important  as  meeting-places  of  the 
men  and  for  many  uses.  Here  too  a  captive  would  be  kept 
until  it  was  decided  whether  he  was  to  be  taken  into  the 
house  as  an  adopted  member  of  the  clan  or  led  away  to  torture 
and  death.  (Lafitau,  III.  246.)  The  roof  of  the  main  house 
was  usually  a  round  arch,  but  sometimes  made  with  straight 
rafters  like  our  own.  In  either  form  it  was  probably  too  steep 
for  a  resting-place,  but  onto  the  flatter  roof  of  the  vestibule 
people  climbed  to  see  the  sights,  to  harangue  their  neighbors, 
or  for  any  of  the  purposes  for  which  the  burghers  of  New 
Amsterdam  and  their  successors  have  used  their  front  stoops. 

At  the  Chicago  Exposition  a  reconstruction  of  the  Long 
House  was  to  be  seen,  and  at  the  Pan-American  Exposition 
at  Buffalo  a  complete  stockaded  village.  In  neither  of  these 
was  the  interior  of  the  house  completely  finished.  A  photo 
graph  of  the  Chicago  structure  is  reproduced  in  the  Report  of 
the  Managers,  of  the  New  York  Exhibit^  500.  The  roofs 
of  these  buildings,  both  at  Chicago  and  Buffalo,  were  rather 
flatter  than  the  old  accounts  and  pictures  would  indicate,  and 
it  would  be  interesting  to  see  whether  they  would  carry  a 

299 


APPENDIX    B 

heavy   weight    of   snow,      At    each    exhibition    round    houses 
were  also  shown   as   representing    Iroquois   architecture. 

As  to  tidiness,  it  was  not  easy  to  attain,  and  in  many 
houses  it  was  not  attained.  Perhaps  the  Hurons  were  worse 
than  the  Iroquois.  "  Everything-  is  in  the  dust,  and  if  you 
enter  there  you  will  not  reach  the  end  of  the  cabin  without 
being  covered  with  soot  and  filth  and  dirt."  (Le  Jeune,  Rel. 

l639>  ll  7-  R'i  l±') 

"  The  model  six   feet  by  four   (from  which  the  plate 

30  shown  in  Vol.  I.  p.  3,  is  made)  shows  very  perfectly 
the  mechanism  of  the  bark  house  throughout ;  but  it  is  de 
fective  in  its  proportions.  It  was  designed  for  two  fires  or 
four  families,  and  therefore  should  be  either  longer  or  nar 
rower  and  not  as  high.  With  this  criticism  in  mind  the 
plate  gives  a  faithful  impression  of  the  primitive  house  of  the 
Iroquois."  Morgan,  Fifth  Regent's  Report,  116. 

The  Long   House  was  typical  of  the  sedentary  agri- 

I25  cultural  tribes  rather  than  of  any  particular  stock. 
All  the  Iroquoians  built  them,  for  all  were  agriculturists. 
The  southern  Algonquins,  such  as  the  Illinois  and  the  Pow- 
hattans,  constructed  dwellings  of  the  same  type.  An  Algon 
quin  Long  House  built  by  the  Nyacks  of  Long  Island  is 
described  in  Dankers'  and  Sluyter's  Journal  of  a  Voyage  to 
New  York,  Long  Island  Historical  Society  Memoirs,  I.  124. 
The  Carib  dwellings  of  this  type  are  mentioned  by  Lafitau, 
III.  7,  and  even  in  the  far  distant  mountains  of  Chili  the 
Indians  built  and  dwelt  in  the  same  way.  Probably  they  do 
so  yet. 

"  The  house,  having  much  the  form  of  a  boat  turned  up 
side  down,  presented,  at  a  short  distance,  the  appearance  of 
a  haystack.  Its  length  was  about  a  hundred  and  forty  feet, 
and  the  width  some  thirty  odd.  The  peak  stood  near  fifteen 
feet  from  the  ground,  and  the  sides  sloped  down  without  any 
eaves.  The  customary  shed  of  cane  and  twigs  was  ranged 
on  one  side,  and  in  front  ran  the  heavy  cross-bar,  within 
which  no  stranger  presumes  to  enter  without  an  invitation. 

300 


ARAUCANIAN    HOUSE 

"  The  interior  reminded  me  of  a  ship's  between-decks.  On 
either  hand  stood  a  row  of  cane  partitions  forming,  as  it  were, 
state-rooms  for  the  various  members  of  the  family,  which  was 
a  large  one,  as  several  of  the  sons  were  married.  Overhead 
were  the  usual  provision  lofts,  and  down  the  middle  of  the 
cabin  blazed  half  a  dozen  fires,  each  having  an  aperture  above 
it  in  the  ceiling  through  which  the  smoke  rose  and  found  its 
way  out  through  the  chimney-holes  left  open  in  the  centre 
and  at  each  end  of  the  roof.  Large  stones  were  ranged 
around  the  fires  to  support  the  pots  used  for  cooking,  and 
the  ashes  were  allowed  to  accumulate  as  they  fell,  —  a  custom 
adding  nothing  to  the  cleanliness  of  the  ladies  who  were 
squatted  round  preparing  the  evening  meal.  As  the  cooking 
goes  on  at  all  hours,  these  houses  are  always  smoky."  (Smith, 
The  Araucanians^w  York,  1855,  p.  295,  and  plate  on 

Page  303.) 

126     The  Long  House  was   not  only  the  mark  of  society 
L  48'    of  the  grade  to  which  the  Iroquois  had  raised   them- 
IL89o7    selves.       It    was    in   itself   the    perfect    similitude   of 
the    Iroquois     social     and     political     organization.       To     an 
Iroquois  the   League  was  not   like  a  Long   House.      It  was  a 
Long   House,  extending  from  the  Hudson  to  the  Genesee,  in 
which   around   five  fires  the  five  tribes  gathered.      The   Mo 
hawk  Wolf-clan   kept    the   eastern   door,  the  Seneca   Wolves 
the  western.      At    each   fire  the   sachems   like   pillars   upheld 
the  roof,  the  chiefs  were  the  braces  that  fortified  the  structure. 
It   was  rather  in   literal  than   in   metaphorical  speech  that  in 
1652  the  Mohawks,  jealous  that  the   Canada  trade  should  go 
direct  to  Onondaga  by  way  of  Lake  Ontario  instead 
of  paying  toll  in  their  valley,  warned  the  French,  with 
a  threat  that  the  simile  employed  rather  emphasized  than  hid. 

"  Is  not  the  door  the  proper  entrance  to  the  house,  and  not 
the  chimney  or  the  roof  of  the  cabin,  unless  the  visitor  be  a 
thief  and  wishes  to  surprise  the  people  ?  We  constitute  but 
one  house,  we  five  Iroquois  nations,  we  build  but  one  fire  and 
we  have  through  all  time  dwelt  under  the  same  roof.  Well, 

301 


APPENDIX    B 

then,  will  you  not  enter  the  cabin  by  the  door,  which  is  on  the 
ground  floor  of  the  house  ?  It  is  with  us,  the  Mohawks,  that 
you  should  begin.  You  would  enter  by  the  roof  and  by  the 
chimney  if  you  begin  with  the  Onondagas.  Have  you  no 
fear  lest  the  smoke  may  blind  you,  our  fire  not  being  extin 
guished  ?  Do  you  not  fear  to  fall  from  the  top  to  the  bottom 
having  nothing  solid  whereon  to  plant  your  feet  ?  " 

When  a  new  fire  became  necessary  the  end-work 
332  was  removed  and  the  building  lengthened.  This 
statement  refers  to  both  the  actual  and  the  political  struc 
ture.  The  name  carried  in  it  the  possibility  of  extension, 
and  the  plan  of  the  founders  was  to  take  in  other  peoples  and 
their  fires  until  all  who  would  had  joined  the  League.  As 
already  suggested,  the  house  was  originally  of  four  fires  and 
the  Mohawks  were  taken  in  later.  If  Hale  is  correct  the 
name  Hodenosaunee  may  present  a  record  of  this,  for  he 
translates  it  "  People  of  the  Extended  house." 

"  The    Tuscaroras    were    a    refugee    tribe    from    the 

I.  42 

94  south,  and  entered  the  Long  House  not  by  the 
regular  doorway  at  the  west,  but  knocked  for  admis 
sion  at  the  sides  of  the  Long  House,  claiming  con 
sanguinity  as  the  basis  of  admission.  They  were  taken  in, 
but  some  of  the  bark  of  the  sides  of  the  Long  House  had  to 
be  taken  off  to  admit  them,  and  as  a  penalty  for  their  irregular 
entrance  into  the  House  they  were  debarred- the  high  privilege 
of  having  sachems.  They  were  therefore  never  accorded  the 
right  of  hereditary  representation  at  the  high  councils  of  the 
League  except  as  spectators,  and  they  could  only  be  heard 
through  the  sachem  of  some  other  tribe."  (Ely  S.  Parker, 
MS.  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Harriet  Maxwell  Converse.) 

UNITY    OF    INDIAN    LIFE 

J27     Morgan    afterwards    visited    many    western    tribes    in 

II.  60    their  homes.       He    has   left   records    of  his   personal 
observations  of  the  Ojibways,  the  Arickarees,  the  Sioux,  and 

302 


"THE    OREGON    TRAIL" 

the  Pueblos.  In  penning  this  paragraph,  he  doubtless  had 
in  mind  the  adventurous  journey  of  Francis  Parkman,  who 
"  desiring  a  picture  of  Iroquois  life  before  Hendrick  Hudson  " 
had  a  short  time  before  gone  to  "  look  for  it  at  the  skirts  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains."  Parkman  had  had  for  a  long  time  in 
contemplation  the  "plan  of  writing  a  story  of  the  war  that 
ended  in  the  conquest  of  Canada,"  but  as  he  was  setting  to 
work  his  eyes  failed  him.  u  Doubtless  to  study  with  the  eyes 
of  another  is  practicable,  yet  the  expedient  is  not  an  eligible 
one,  and  the  writer  bethought  him  of  an  alternative.  It  was 
essential  to  his  plans  to  give  an  inside  view  of  Indian  life. 
This,  then,  was  the  time  at  once  to  accomplish  the  object  and 
rest  his  failing  vision.  Accordingly  he  went  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains,"  and  joining  a  large  band  of  Ogalala  Sioux  accom 
panied  them  for  some  weeks  in  their  hunts  and  wanderings, 
slept  in  their  lodges  and  lived  their  life.  (Farnham,  Life  of 
Parkman}.  "They  were  thorough  savages.  Neither  their  man 
ners  nor  their  ideas  were  in  the  slightest  degree  modified  by 
contact  with  civilization.  Their  religion,  superstitions,  and 
prejudices  were  the  same  handed  down  to  them  from  imme 
morial  time.  They  fought  with  the  same  weapons  that  their 
fathers  fought  with,  and  wore  the  same  garments  of  skins. 
They  were  living  representatives  of  the  '  stone  age ' ;  for 
though  their  lances  and  arrows  were  tipped  with  iron  procured 
from  the  traders  they  still  used  the  rude  stone  mallet  of  the 
primeval  world."  (Oregon  Trail,  189.  See  also  Fiske,  Intro 
duction  to  Champlain  edition  of  Parkman0) 

Morgan  read  The  Oregon  Trail  at  the  time  when  he  was 
beginning  his  own  work,  and  when  he  wrote  the  words  of 
the  text  the  first  fruit  of  Parkman's  studies,  The  Conspiracy  of 
Pontiac,  was  almost  ready  for  the  press.  Parkman  freely  attrib 
utes  to  the  Iroquois  and  Hurons  who  live  in  his  writings  the 
traits  and  habits  which  he  had  observed  among  the  Sioux. 
The  similitude  may  however  be  forced  too  far.  Both  the 
village-dwelling  Pueblos  and  the  roving  tribes  of  the  prairies 
differed  greatly  in  manner  of  life  and  slightly  in  manner  of 

3°3 


APPENDIX    B 

thought  from  the  Iroquois.  The  Iroquois  had  their  per 
manent  towns,  but  retained  the  habit  and  instinct  of  annual 
migration.  Their  wide  territories  were  limited  by  definite 
bounds  and  were  held  with  a  firm  hand.  They  were  remark 
able  for  artisan  skill,  wisdom  in  statecraft,  and  eloquence  in 
oratory.  By  the  study  of  other  tribes  the  Iroquois  as  they 
were  in  the  days  of  their  triumphs  may  be  understood,  but  they 
cannot  be  recalled. 


PROGRESS    AND    DESTINY 

I2g  IN  the  fifty  years  elapsed  since  Morgan  wrote,  no 
II.  60,  very  marked  change  has  taken  place  in  the  condition 

IJ9  of  the  Iroquois.  The  policy  of  the  State  has  been 
benevolent  and  vacillating  in  purpose  and  negligent  in  execu 
tion.  Its  not  very  vigorous  though  well-intended  efforts  have 
been  retarded  and  defeated  by  the  conservatism  of  the  Indians, 
sometimes  due  to  patriotism,  sometimes  to  laziness.  Yet 
until  the  State  presents  a  consistent  and  adequate  plan,  the 
Indians  can  hardly  be  expected  to  welcome  a  change  from  the 
present  conditions,  under  which  they  are  for  the  most  part 
comfortable  and  fairly  prosperous. 

The  Oneidas  alone  have  divided  (in  1842)  their  lands  in 
severally,  have  allowed  their  tribal  organization  to  lapse,  are 
citizens  and  voters,  and  have  become,  so  far  as  status,  occupa 
tion,  and  manner  of  life  go,  inseparable  from  the  people  of  the 
State.  This  statement  applies  only  to  those  Oneidas  who 
remained  in  their  ancient  territories.  A  number  of  Oneidas 
are  still  found  on  the  reservations  of  the  other  tribes.  The 
citizen  Oneidas  are  not  perceptibly  better  off  than  the  Iroquois 
on  the  reservations. 

The  Senecas  have  become  two  communities.  Those  dwell 
ing  on  the  Allegany  and  Cattaraugus  reservations  are  practi 
cally  a  municipal  corporation  and  have  a  written  constitution, 
accepted  by  the  New  York  Legislature,  under  which  they 
administer  their  affairs.  The  Cornplanter  Senecas,  although 

3°4 


PROGRESS    OF    THE    INDIAN 

dwelling  in  Pennsylvania,  are  in  most  respects  a  part  of  this 
community. 

The  Tonawanda  Senecas,  the  Tuscaroras,  the  Onondagas, 
and  the  St.  Regis  Mohawks  have  separate  tribal  governments, 
each  subject  to  certain  general  and  special  statutes  of  the 
State. 

The  Onondagas  and  the  two  divisions  of  the  Senecas  are 
divided  between  the  conservative  or  "pagan"  party  and  the 
progressive  or  "  Christian  "  party,  this  being  a  political  as  well 
as  a  religious  division.  Politically,  at  least,  the  "pagans" 
prevail. 

Most  of  the  Tuscaroras  are  Protestant  Christians.  The 
St.  Regis  are  Catholic  Christians,  forming  one  religious  com 
munity  with  their  brethren  across  the  international  boundary. 

Farming  is  the  chief  occupation  with  all  the  tribes.  Gen 
erally  speaking,  they  are  not  up  to  the  standard  of  their  white 
neighbors,  though  white  communities  can  be  found  with 
which  the  Indians  need  not  shirk  comparison.  There  are 
found  on  the  reservations,  as  everywhere  else,  the  thrifty  and 
the  unthrifty,  the  industrious  and  the  idle. 

(See  Indian  Problem,  Eleventh  Census,  and  New  York 
Statutes.} 

As  already  stated,  the  Indians  will  ultimately  become 
'  I23  merged  in  our  citizenship.  One  who  knows  them 
well  wrote  in  1889  :  "  Nowadays  we  undoubtedly  ought  to  break 
up  the  great  Indian  reservations,  disregard  the  tribal  govern 
ments,  allot  the  land  in  severally  (with,  however,  only  a  limited 
power  of  alienation),  and  treat  the  Indians  as  we  do  other  citi 
zens,  with  certain  exceptions,  for  their  sakes  as  well  as  ours." 
(Winning  of  the  West,  I.  332.)  Yet  in  carrying  out  this 
policy  Morgan's  remark,  already  quoted  by  Mr.  Porter,  will 
serve  as  a  useful  monitor.  It  is  idle  to  attempt  to  transplant 
the  Indian  across  two  or  three  ethnic  periods.  We  cannot 
expect  him,  even  with  assistance  and  guidance,  to  travel  in  one 
generation  the  distance  which  it  has  taken  our  own  not  infe 
rior  race  hundreds  of  generations  to  accomplish.  The  benevo- 

VOL.  II.  —  2O  305 


APPENDIX    B 

lent  people  who  talk  of  full  citizenship  and  full  power  to 
alienate  property  for  all  Indians  in  twenty  years  are  both 
unwise  and  cruel.  With  wisdom  and  justice  let  us  give  them 
the  tools  with  which  to  work  out  their  salvation,  and  let  us 
bear  constantly  in  mind  that  those  tools  are  sharp-edged. 
The  agricultural  Iroquois,  dwelling  for  a  century  among  our 
most  orderly  communities,  are  not  yet  American  citizens. 
What  can  be  expected,  without  great  wisdom  and  patience  on 
our  part,  of  the  rovers  of  the  prairies  ?  The  needful,  the 
indispensable  solvents  of  the  Indian  problem  are  time,  a  great 
deal  of  time,  and  a  very  great  deal  of  patience,  both  on  our 
own  part  and  on  theirs. 

TRIBAL    NAMES 

I2Q       The  names  by  which  the  tribes  of  the  League  have 

I.  5°       been  called  by   French,  English,  and  Dutch  writers 

and  the  spellings  of  these  names  are  legion.     The  curious  may 

find    a    few    (about    two    hundred)    specimens    in    the    Index 

Volume  (XI.)  of  the  New  York  Colonial  Documents. 

The  names  in  common  use  are 

ENGLISH  Inoguois  FRENCH 

Five  (Six)  Nations  Hodenosaunee  Iroquois 

Mohawks  Ganeagaono  Agnies 

Oneidas  Onayotekaono  Onneiouts 

Onondagas  Onundagaono  Onnontagues 

Cayugas  Gweugwehono  Goyogouens 

Senecas  Nundawaono  Sonnontouans 

Tuscaroras  Dusgaowehono  Tuscarorins 

All  the  French  and  English  titles  are  derived  from  the  Iro 
quois  names  except  the  descriptive  term  Five  (or  Six)  Nations, 
Mohawks,  the  Algonquin  name  of  the  tribe,  signifying  Bears, 
and  Iroquois,  which  is  of  uncertain  origin.  The  French  had 
difficulty  with  the  Iroquois  g.  Hence  Agnies  (from  Ganeaga). 
So  they  sometimes  called  the  Cayugas  Oioguens,  and  the 
Conestogas  became  on  French  lips  Gandastogues,  Andastogues,, 
Andastes. 


LIST    OF    WORKS   CITED    IN    THE 
FOREGOING    NOTES 

ABBOTT,  CHARLES  C.,  M.D.  —  Primitive  Industry,  or  Illus 
trations  of  the  Handiwork  in  Stone,  Bone  and  Clay  of 
the  Native  Races  of  the  Northern  Atlantic  Seaboard  of 
America.  Salem,  1881. 

BARTRAM,  JOHN.  —  Observations  on  the  Inhabitants,  Climate, 
Soil,  Rivers,  Productions,  Animals,  and  other  matters 
worthy  of  Notice  made  by  Mr.  John  Bartram  in  his  travels 
from  Pensilvania  to  Onondago,  Oswego  and  to  Lake 
Ontario  in  Canada,  etc.  London,  1751.  Reprint 
Rochester,  1895. 

BEAUCHAMP,  REV.  WM.  M.,  S.T.D.  —  The  Iroquois  Trail. 
Fayetteville,  N.  Y.,  1892. 

Indian  Names  in  New  York  with  a  selection  from  other 
States  and  some  Onondaga  names  of  Plants,  etc.  Fayette 
ville,  N.  Y.,  1893. 

BRADFORD,  WILLIAM.  —  Bradford's  History  of  Plimoth 
Plantation  (commonly  called  "  The  Log  of  the  May 
flower ").  Boston,  1899. 

CHADWICK,  EDWARD  MARION  ("  Shagotyohgwisaks,"  Hon 
orary  Chief).  — The  People  of  the  Longhouse.  Toronto, 
1897. 

CHARLEVOIX,  PIERRE  FRANCOIS-XAVIER  DE,  S.  J.  —  History 
and  General  Description  of  New  France  (Dr.  Shea's 
translation).  6  vols.  New  York,  1900. 
CLARK,  JOSHUA  V.  H.  —  Onondaga,  or  Reminiscences  of 
Earlier  and  Later  Times,  being  a  series  of  historical 
sketches  relative  to  Onondaga,  with  notes  on  the  several 
towns  in  the  County  and  Oswego.  2  vols.  Syracuse, 
1849. 

3°7 


APPENDIX    B 

CLARK,  W.  P.,  U.  S.  Army.  —  The  Indian  Sign  Language. 
Philadelphia,  1885. 

GOLDEN,  CADWALLADER.  —  The  History  of  the  Five  Indian 
Nations  of  Canada,  Which  are  dependent  on  the 
Province  of  New  York  in  America,  and  Are  the 
Barrier  between  the  English  and  French  in  that  Part  of 
the  World.  3d  Edition,  2  vols.  London,  1755. 

CUSICK,  DAVID. — Sketches  of  Ancient  History  of  the  Six 
Nations  (Lewiston,  1826).  Reprint  in  Beauchamp's 
Iroquois  Trail.  Fayetteville,  N.  Y.,  1892. 

BANKERS,  JASPAR,  AND  SLUYTER,  PETER.  —  Journal  of  a 
Voyage  to  New  York  and  a  Tour  in  several  of  the 
American  Colonies  in  1679-80.  Translated  and  edited 
by  Henry  C.  Murphy  (Memoirs  of  the  Long  Island 
Historical  Society,  Vol.  I.).  Brooklyn,  1867. 

FARNHAM,  CHARLES  HAIGHT.  —  A  Life  of  Francis  Parkman. 
Boston,  1901. 

FISKE,  JOHN.  —  The  Discovery  of  America,  with  some 
Account  of  Ancient  America  and  the  Spanish  Conquest. 
2  vols.  Boston,  1893. 

GLOBUS.  —  Vol.  76,  p.  199.     Article  cited  II.  259. 

HALE,  HORATIO.  —  The  Iroquois  Book  of  Rites.  (No.  2  of 
Brinton's  Library  of  Aboriginal  American  Literature.) 
Philadelphia,  1883. 

HALSEY,  FRANCIS  WHITING.  — The  Old  New  York  Frontier, 
its  Wars  with  Indians  and  Tories,  its  Missionary  Schools, 
Pioneers  and  Land  Titles  1614-1800.  New  York,  1901. 

HARPER'S  NEW  MONTHLY  MAGAZINE.  —  Vol.  102,  p.  425. 
The  Girl  who  was  the  Ring,  by  Geo.  Bird  Grinnell. 

HART,  ALBERT  B.  —  American  History  told  by  Contempo 
raries.  4  vols.  New  York,  1897-1901. 

JESUIT  RELATIONS.  —  (J.  R.)  These  are  uniformly  cited   from 

the   most   complete    and    most    accessible    edition,    The 

Jesuit    Relations    and    Allied    Documents,    Travels  and 

Explorations  of  the  Jesuit  Missionaries  in  New  France. 

308 


WORKS    CITED    IN  NOTES 

1610—1791,  edited  by  Reuben    Gold  Thwaites,  73   vols. 

Cleveland,   1896-1901. 
KELLOGG,    REV.    ELIJAH.  —  Good    Old    Times,  or   Grand 

father's  Struggles   for  a   Homestead.      Boston,    1877. 
LAFITAU,  JOSEPH  FRANCOIS  (al.   Pierre).  —  Moeurs  des  Sau- 

vages  Ameriquains  comparees  aux   Moeurs  des   premiers 

temps.      4   vols.      Paris,    1724. 
LOSKIEL,    GEORG    HEINRICH.  —  Geschichte  der  Mission   der 

evangelischen    Bruder    unter    den    Indianern    in     Nord- 

amerika.      Barby,  1789. 
MCILVAINE,  REV.  J.'  H.,  D.D.       The  Life  and  Works  of 

Lewis   H.  Morgan,  LL.D.     An  Address  at   his   funeral, 

privately   printed,      n.  d. 
MOONEY,  JAMES.  —  The  Siouan  Tribes  of  the  East.     Wash 

ington,  1894. 
MORGAN,  LEWIS  S.  (see  vol.  II.  pp.  162  and  175).  —  (Sken- 

andoah.)      Letters  on  the  Iroquois,  by  Skenandoah. 

(League)  League  of  the  Iroquois. 

(Beaver)  The  American  Beaver  and  his  Works. 

Ancient  Society,  or   Researches  in   the  Lines  of  Human 

Progress  from  Savagery  through  Barbarism  to  Civilization. 

(Houses)    Houses    and     House-Life    of*  the    American 

Aborigines. 
NEW  YORK  STATE.  —  (  N.  Y.)  Reports  of  Cases  in  the  Court 

of    Appeals    of    the    State    of    New    York.      Albany, 


(App.  Div.)  Reports  of  Cases  in  the  Appellate  Division 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  New  York. 
Albany,  1896- 

(Misc.)  Cases  Decided  in  the  Courts  of  Record  of  the 
State  of  New  York  other  than  the  Court  of  Appeals 
and  the  Appellate  Division  of  the  Supreme  Court. 
Albany,  1893- 

(Indian    Problem)   Report   of  Special    Committee  to   in 
vestigate  the  Indian  problem  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
3°9 


APPENDIX    B 

appointed  by  the  -Assembly  of  1888.  2  vols.  Albany, 
1889. 

(Doc.  Hist.)  The  Documentary  History  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  arranged  under  direction  of  the  Hon. 
Christopher  Morgan,  Secretary  of  State,  by  E.  B. 
O'Callaghan,  M.D.  4  vols.  Albany,  1849-1859. 
(Colonial  Documents)  Documents  relative  to  the  Colonial 
History  of  the  State  of  New  York.  14  vols.  Albany, 
1856-1883. 

(Regents  Reports)  Annual  Reports  of  the  Regents  of  the 
University  on  the  condition  of  the  State  Cabinet  of 
Natural  History  and  the  Historical  and  Antiquarian  Collec 
tion  annexed  thereto.  Albany,  1848  and  subsequent  dates. 
Journals  of  the  Military  Expedition  of  Major  General 
John  Sullivan  against  the  Six  Nations  of  Indians  in  1779, 
with  Records  of  Centennial  Celebrations.  Auburn,  1887. 
Report  of  the  Board  of  General  Managers  of  the  Exhibit 
of  the  State  of  New  York  at  the  World's  Columbian 
Exhibition.  Albany,  1894. 

State  Museum  Bulletins  prepared  by  William  M.  Beau- 
champ,  S.T.D. 

No.  1 6.  Aboriginal  Chipped  Stone  Implements  of  New 
York.  Albany,  1897. 

No.  18.  Polished  Stone  Articles  used  by  the  New  York 
Aborigines.  Albany,  1897. 

No.  22.  Earthenware  of  the  New  York  Aborigines. 
Albany,  1898. 

No.  32.  Aboriginal  Occupation  of  New  York.  Albany, 
1900. 

No.  41.  Wampum  and  Shell  Articles  used  by  the  New 
York  Indians.  Albany,  1901. 

NORTH    AMERICAN   REVIEW.  —  Sundry  articles    as  cited   on 
pages  174  and  176  of  Vol.  II. 

ONONDAGA  NATION  vs.  THACHER.  —  (Papers  on  Appeal.) 
In  the  Court  of  Appeals  of  the  State  of  New  York.     The 
310 


WORKS    CITED    IN    NOTES 

Onondaga   Nation,  Te-hes-ha,  Say-haque,  Hos-hay-qua, 

Sho-heh-do-nah,    Ha-on-go-wenle,    and    Jarvis    Farmer, 

Onondaga   Indians,  Ho-do-oh-go-ah,   A   Seneca   Indian  ; 

Ha-ja-ah-gwysh,  a  Cayuga  Indian,  and  the  University  of 

the  State  of  New  York.      Plaintiffs-Appellants,  against 

John  Boyd  Thacher.      Defendant-Respondent.       Papers 

on   Appeal.     New   York,    1901. 
PARKMAN,   FRANCIS.  —  Citations  are  from  the  familiar  small 

octavo   felicitously   styled   in   a  recent  auction    catalogue 

the   little  brown   edition   and  dated   Boston,    1896. 

(Pioneers)  Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New  World. 

(Jesuits)  The  Jesuits  in  North  America  in  the  Seventeenth 

Century. 

(Frontenac)    Count   Frontenac   and   New   France  under 

Louis  XIV. 

Montcalm  and  Wolfe.      2  vols. 

(Pontiac)  The  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac  and  the  Indian  War 

after  the  Conquest  of  Canada.      2  vols. 

The  Oregon  Trail. 
PAYNE,  EDWARD  JOHN.  —  History  of  the  New  World  called 

America.      Vol.  I.      Oxford,    1892.      Vol.  II.      Oxford. 

1899. 
POPULAR  SCIENCE  MONTHLY.  —  (Pop.  Sci.)  Sketch  of  Lewis 

H.  Morgan  by  J.  W.  Powell  in  vol.  26,  p.  114. 
ROOSEVELT,  THEODORE.  --  The  Winning  of  the  West.    4  vols. 

New  York,  1896. 
SAMSON,    WILLIAM  H.—  -The    Claim    of   the  Ogden   Land 

Company.      Rochester,   n.   d. 
SMITH,  EDMOND  R.  —  The  Araucanians,  or  Notes  of  a  Tour 

among  the  Indian  Tribes  of  Southern  Chili.      New  York, 


SPECTATOR,    THE     (London).  --  The     Genesis     of    Roads 

Aug.   3,    1901. 
SQUIER,  E.  G.  —  Antiquities  of  the  State  of  New  York,  with  a, 

supplement  on  the  Antiquities  of  the  West.     Buffalo,  1  85  I 


APPENDIX    B 

STONE,  WILLIAM  L.  —  Life  of  Joseph  Brant-Thayendanegea, 
including  the  Border  Wars  of  the  American  Revolution. 
2  vols.  New  York,  1838. 

STONE,  WILLIAM  L. —  The  Life  and  Times  of  Sir  William 
Johnson,  Bart.  2  vols.  Albany,  1865.  (Begun  by 
William  L.  Stone  the  elder  and^  completed  by  his  son 
William  L.  Stone.) 

THOREAU,  HENRY  D.  -  -  The  Maine  Woods.      Boston,  1894. 

UNITED   STATES.  —  (Census)  Report  on   Indians  Taxed  and 
Indians  not  Taxed  in    the  United   States   (except  Alaska) 
at  the  Eleventh  Census,  1890.     Washington,  1894. 
Bureau  of  Ethnology. 

(Bur.  Eth.)  Annual  Reports  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Smith 
sonian  Institution,  first  Report   dated    1879-80.     J.   W. 
Powell,    Director. 
Smithsonian-  Institution. 

(S.  R.)  Annual  Reports  of  the  Board  of  Regents,  first  of 
series  dated  1854. 
National  Museum. 

(S.  R.  N.  M.)  Reports  of  the  United  States  National 
Museum  under  the  Direction  of  the  Smithsonian  Insti 
tution,  first  of  series  dated  1886. 

WHEELER,  OLIN  D.  —  Wonderland,  1900.  Published  by 
the  Northern  Pacific  Railway.  St.  Paul,  1900. 

WINSOR,  JUSTIN.  —  Cartier  to  Frontenac,  Geographical  Dis 
covery  in  the  interior  of  North  American  in  its  historical 
relations,  1534-1700.  Boston,  1894. 


312 


INDEX 

WITH  A  PARTIAL  VOCABULARY  OF  SENECA  NAMES 


INDEX 


[For  Geographical  names  not  found  in  the  Index  see  Appendix  A, 
Vol.  II.  p.   127.] 


A. 

Adirondack  Mountains,  hunting 
grounds  of  Mohawks,  I.  337, 
II.  189  ;  roads  across,  II.  209. 

Adirondacks,  an  Algonquin  people, 
I.  5  ;  location  of,  I.  9  :  dwell  at 
Quebec,  I.  8  ;  allied  with  French, 

I.  9  ;  accompany  Champlain,  I. 
10  ;  meaning  of  name,  II.   191  5 
teach     Ir.      agriculture,     I.     5  5 
contra,    II.     190,    192  ;    subdue 
Ir.,  I.  5. 

Adoption,   of  individuals,    I.    332, 

II.  277  5     of    tribes,    II.     302  5 
ceremony,     I.      333,     II.     158  ; 
great    number    of    adopted,    II. 
228,  278. 

Adultery,  punishment  of,  I.   322. 
Aged,    respected,    I.  165  5    killed, 
I.     165,      II.     286  5     years     of, 

I.  244,     II.    202,    286. 

Agriculture,  extent,  I.  191,  II. 
30,  248,  251,  253  ;  plants  cul 
tivated,  II.  251  5  Ir.  learn,  II. 
j 88  ;  from  Adirondacks,  I. 
55  contra,  II.  190,  191,  192; 
location  of  field,  I.  306,  308, 

II.  251  5    change  of   fields,    II. 
251  5    yield,   I.    3205    labor    by 
women,    I.     320,    II.    250  5    by 
slaves,  II.  279  ;  warriors  despise, 
I.    320,   II.    251  5   Indians    teach 


to    Europeans,     II.     148  ;     long 

known  to  Ir. ,  I.    191,   II.    191  ; 

effect  on  progress,    I.    320,    II. 

249. 
Aids,    invisible,    Ho-no-c he-no' -keh, 

inferior    spirits,    I.    148  5    feebly 

personified,     I.    154,     II.     233  ; 

being  and  functions  of,  I.  212. 
Air-gun,    Ga-ga-an'-da   (cuts),  II. 

37,  284. 

Alcohol,  as  food,  I.  236,  II.  235. 
American      Revolution,      Ir.     join 

British,  I.  26  ;  but  not  as  League, 

I.     1 08,    II.     195  ;    deserted   by 

British,    I.  27,   327. 
Andastes,  see  Conestogas. 
Animals,    domesticated,    II.    253  ; 

none  of  burden,   II.    145,    250, 

251. 

Araucanians,  houses  of,  II.  301. 
Archery  (cuts,  I.  296,   297,   298), 

I.  295,  II.  241  ;  Bow,  Wa-a'-no, 

I.  296  ;    Arrow,  Gd'-no,  I.  296  ; 
Sheaf,  Ga-das-ha,    I.    297  ;  flint 
arrow-heads,    II.    10;  feathering 
of  arrows,    II.    10. 

Areskoui,  War  God,  II.  234. 

Arm-band,  see  Band. 

Arrows,  see  Archery. 

Art,  decorative,  II.  43,  47,  280. 

Arts,    importance    and   history    of, 

II.  5. 

Assistant  sachems,  see  Sachems. 


INDEX 


Astronomy,  knowledge  of,  II.  106. 
Ataentsic,    female  deity,  II.    234  j 

sick,  II.  254. 

Authorities,  list  of,  I.  34,   II.   307. 
Axes,  see  Implements. 


B. 


Baby  frame,  Ga-ose'-ha  (cut,  II. 
58,  plate,  II.  58),  II.  57,  284  ; 
belt,  Ga-s*wa-hos-ha  (plate,  II. 
118). 

Bag,  fawn  skin,  Gis-tat-he-o  Ga- 
ya-ah  (cut),  II.  39. 

Ball,  see  Games. 

Bands,  arm,  Ga-g?h'-ta,  Yen-nis- 
ha-hos-ta  ;  knee,  Ga-geh'-ta, 
Yen-che-no-hos-ta-ta  ;  and  wrist, 
Yen-nis-ho-qua-hos-ta  (plate,  I. 
216),  I.  255. 

Bark,  many  uses  of,  vessels,  II. 
22  ;  barrel,  Ga-sna'  Ga-ose'-ha 
(cut,  II.  23),  II.  22,290;  tray, 
Ga-o-rivo'  (cut),  II.  24  5  canoe, 
Ga-sna'  Ga-o-ivo'  (plate,  II.  3), 
II.  25  ;  ladle,  Ah-do-qua'-sa, 
II.  46  ;  rope,  G'a-a-sken-da  (cut), 
II.  16;  house,  Ga-no'-sote  (plate, 

I.  3),  I.    308,  II.  287  ;   sap-tub, 
Ga-o-^ivo'  (cut),  II.  27. 

Baskets,    Gase-ha,   skill  in  making, 

II.  41  5   materials,  II.  41,  42. 
Beads,  embroidery  of,  I.  255,  256, 

II.    47,    48  ;   silver   (long),    Ont- 

ewis-td-ne-un-da-qua,  II.  50  5  see 

Wampum. 
Bean,  O-si-da,  indigenous,  II.   34  ; 

long  cultivated,    I. -1905    staple 

food,  I.   321  ;   spirit  of,    I.    152, 

II.   34. 

Bear-trap,  II.  24.         4 
Beauchamp,     William     M.,     map 

prepared  by,    II.    152,   20.8  ;   on 

trails,  II.  207. 


Belt,  Ga-geh'-ta  (plate,  I.    101),  I. 

255- 

Betting,  see  Games. 
Bird-trap  (cut,  II.  25),  II.  24. 
Blacksnake,    Governor,     Ta-wan'- 

ne-ars,    I.     70  ;    great    age    and 

death,    II.    202. 
Blanket,  E'-yose,  II.  50. 
Bottle,   corn   husk,    Ono-ne-a    Gos- 

ha'-da,  II.  42     (cut,  II.    41). 
Boundaries,  of  Ir.  territories,  I.  38, 

41. 

Bow,  see  Archery. 
Braiding,  see  Weaving. 
Brant,     Joseph,      Ta-yen-da-na'-ga 

(Mohawk  Thayendanegea},l.  70, 

98,  II.  203;  wampum  of,  II.  55. 
Bread,  of  corn,  I.  321  ;  how  made, 

II.    30,    1 60;   in   marriage  cere 
mony,  I.   313. 
Bread    turner,     Ya-a-go-gLn-ta-qua 

(cut),  II.  30. 

Breast  plate,  Ga-no-s'a  (plate,  I.  58). 
Breech  cloth,  Ga-ka  (plate,  I.  51), 

I.  284. 

Broaches,    silver,    An-ne-'as-ga,    II. 

49- 
Buffaloes,     first     heard,     I.     276  ; 

dance,  I.  276. 
Burden     frame,       Ga-ne-ko-tva-ah 

(cut),  II.  21. 
Burden     strap,    Gus-ha'-ah    (plate, 

II.  20,  cut,    II.    1 6),    described, 
II.     175    uses    of,    II.    17,     22  ; 
moosehair,    II.    19  ;     deer    hair, 
II.      19,-     how     worn,    II.     16  ; 
braiding  of,  II.   17. 

Burial,  see  Death  and  Burial. 


Caches,  of  corn,  I.  311,  II.  22,  30. 
Canada,  early  home  of  Ir.,  I.  5;  dis 
covered  and  occupied  by  French, 


316 


INDEX 


I.  8,  95  roads  from  Ir.  to,  II.  93, 
96,  209. 

Canarese,  attacked  by  Ir. ,  1 .  1 3 . 
Cane,  Ah-dd'-dis-ha^  carved  wood, 

II.  45- 

Canoe,  Ga-sna  G'd-o-^wo'  (plate,  II. 
3),  material  and  construction,  II. 
255  capacity,  II.  26,  27;  car 
ried,  II.  26,  84  ;  much  travel 
by,  II.  83;  long  voyages  of,  II. 
83. 

Captives,  brought  into  village,  I. 
331;  not  exchanged,  I.  331,  II. 
277;  released,  I.  331;  adopted, 
I-  332>  334»  II.  277,  2785  run 
gantlet,  I.  3335  tortured,  I.  335; 
enslaved,  II.  279;  made  Sachem, 
II.  278. 

Cartier,  Jacques,  ascends  St.  Law 
rence,  I.  8,  II.  189,  191. 

Cat  Nation,  Je-go'-sa-sa,  name  of 
Eries  or  Neutrals,  I.  39. 

Catawbas,  location,  I.  9;  attacked 
by  Ir.,  I.  12. 

Cayugas,  G-ive-u1 ' -g^weh-o-no1 ,  origin 
of,  I.  6,  II.  1 88;  name  and  totem, 
I.  49,  93,  II.  306  j  territories 
and  villages  of,  I.  37,  40,  II.  88; 
migrate  after  Revolution,  I.  29. 

Cereals,  basis  of  civilization,  II. 
249. 

Chadwick,  Edward  Marion,  Mo 
hawk,  Shagotyohg-ivisaks,  list  of 
Sachems,  II.  211. 

Champlain,  Lake,  discovered,  1. 10; 
French  grants  on,  I.  22;  Champ- 
Iain's  fight  on,  II.  192. 

Champlain,  Samuel  de,  fight  with 
Mohawks,  I.  10,  II.  192. 

Cherokees,  O-ya-da'-go-o-no1 ,  anlro- 
quoian  people,  II.  187;  location 
of,  I.  9,  II.  187;  attacked  by 
Ir.,  I.  12;  war  with  Ir.,  I.  328; 
treaty  with,  I.  328. 


Chiefs,  Ha-seh-no-<vua'-neh,  not  an 
original  office,  I.  58,  66;  origin 
of,  I.  66,  94;  power,  I.  71,  95; 
number,  I.  67;  titles,  I.  85;  more 
notable  as  individuals  than  sa 
chems,  I.  96;  raised  up,  I.  85; 
War,  see  War-chiefs. 

Children,  of  mother's  clan,  I.  79, 
II.  218  ;  and  tribe,  I.  316  ;  may 
be  sachems,  I.  84 ;  punishment 
of,  I.  232,  II.  286;  affection  for, 

I.  316;  patience  of,  II.  58;  taught 
to  toe  in,  II.  284. 

Chisel,  see  Implements. 
Clans,    defined,    I.     86  j    called   in 
text  tribes,  I.  74;  list  of,   I.  75, 

II.  225,  275;  originally  but  two, 

I.  76,  II.  218;  totems,  I.  76,  309, 

II.  216,  226,  238  ;    sachemships 
distributed    among,    I.     76,    II. 
212;  kinship  through,  I.  77;   en 
dures  through  years  and  war,  II. 
222,    275;    number    of,    I.    77; 
marriage  must  be  out  of,  I.  77, 
II.    218,    226,     275;     bond    of 
League,   I.   78,  II.    223  ;  extent 
of  system,  I.  87,  II.  224;  origin 
of,  I.  87,  II.  218,  220;  officers 
of,   II.    215  ;  importance  in  hu 
man  history,  II.  224;  power  of 
life  and  death,  II.  273;   property 
of,  II.  273. 

Clark,  John  S.,  important  work  of, 

II.    151;    fixes    location    of  fort 

attacked  by  Champlain,  II.  192  ; 

on  Long  House,  II.  298. 
Classes,  see  Sachems. 
Club,   War,    Ga-je'-wa   (cuts),    I. 

256,  II.  14. 
Colonies,   Ir.    establish,  I.    u,    14; 

Jesuits  establish,  of  converts,  I. 

24. 
Communism,   in  food,  I.    318,   II 

274. 


317 


INDEX 


Concerts,  described,  I.  276. 

Condolence,  see  Council, Mourning. 

Conestogas  (Susquehannocks,  An- 
dastes),  an  Iroquoian  people,  II. 
187  j  location,  I.  9,  II.  187. 

Confederacy,  defined,  II.  223.  See 
League. 

Confession  of  sins,  of  Jesuit  ori 
gin,  I.  164;  at  festivals,  I.  180, 
II.  235  5  white  wampum  used, 

I.  164,  II.  53. 

Converse,  Harriet  Maxwell,  Ga-ie- 
rwa-noh,  Gen.  Parker's  MS.  in 
possession  of,  II.  152  ;  on  sig 
nification  of  Geog.  Names,  II. 
211. 

Corn,  Ha-go'-^-wa  (white  flint  corn), 
festival,  see  Festivals  ;  staple 
food,  I.  190,  II.  249  ;  cultiva 
tion  ancient,  I.  191  ;  extensive,  I. 
1915  abundant  yield,  I.  320  5 
how  prepared  and  cooked,  I. 
321,  II.  30,  31,  160,  249;  va 
rieties,  II.  28,  191,  250;  stor 
age,  I.  310,11.  28,  2905  harvest, 

II.  28  ;  value  of,   II.  32,  250  j 
husks  braided,  II.  42,  160;  Spirit 
of,  I.   153,  II.  34. 

Cornplanter,  Gy-ant'-<wa-ka,  dream 
of,  I.  205  j  tomahawk,  II.  283  j 
reservation,  De-o-no-sa-da'-ga,  I. 
219,  II.  228,  283,  304. 

Cosmogony,  Iroquois,  I.   145. 

Costume,  full  dress  for  dance,  I. 
252  j  ancient  fashions  preserved, 

I.  256,    II.    47,    2845    modern 
female,   II.    46. 

Council  House,  dances   in,  I.  259, 

II.  159. 

Councils,  first  at  Onondaga,  I.  7, 
at  opening  of  Revolution,  I.  26  ; 
where  held,  I.  62,  annual,  I.  62; 
to  raise  up  sachems,  I.  84;  of 
League,  I.  62  5  of  tribe,  I.  65, 


85*  99  j  of  Clan,  I.  322  $  of 
phratry,  I.  323  ;  origin,  II.  220; 
powers,  I.  62,  99  ;  procedure,  I. 
91,  II.  2315  nations  seated  in 
two  classes,  I.  91,  112;  names 
of  nations  in,  I.  92,  93  ;  how 
called,  I.  104,  II.  231,  244; 
popular,  I.  no;  games  at,  I. 
115;  many  subjects  of,  I.  102, 
II.  260;  dance  at,  I.  1155 
social  intercourse  at,  I.  116  ;  in 
fluence  of,  I.  119  ;  Civil,  Ho- 
de-os'-seh,  how  called,  I.  103  5 
voting,  I.  1 06  ;  unanimity,  I. 
106  ;  procedure,  I.  105. 
Mourning,  Hen-nun-do-nuh'-seh, 

to  raise  up   sachems,    I.    109, 

II.    239;    procedure,    I.     in; 

ritual,  I.   113;  festivities  after, 

I.   115- 
Religious,      Ga-e-^ve'-yo-do     Ho- 

de-os-hen'-dd-ko,   I.   103,    118. 
Cradle,  see  Baby  frame. 
Crime,    infrequent,    I.    133,    321  ; 
punishment  of,  I.  321. 

D. 

Daganoweda,  founder  of  League, 
I.  57;  sachem,  I.  60  ;  history, 
I.  96  ;  no  successor,  I.  96,  II. 
215;  aims  of,  I.  165. 

Dances,  form  of  worship,  I.  183, 
233,  249  j  at  religious  councils, 
I.  198  ;  at  New  Year's  festival, 
I.  204  ;  influence  of,  I.  250, 
251;  number  and  origin  of,  I. 
250  ;  missionaries  seek  to  sup 
press,  I.  251,  II.  161  5  costume, 
I.  271;  list  of,  I.  278,  II.  287; 
Feather,  O-sto-<weh'-go-iva,  I. 
252,  268  ;  War,  Wd-sd'-seh^  I. 
252,  257  ;  speeches  in,  I.  262  ; 
Religious,  see  Feather  ;  Trotting, 


INDEX 


G'd-da'-shote,  I.  272  ;  Fish,  Ga- 
so-rwa'-o-no,  I.  273,  II.  159} 
Passing,  Ga-no'-ga-j>o,  I.  275;  for 
Dead,  O-ke'-iva,  I.  ^75;  Buffalo, 
Da-ge'-ya-go-o-an'-no,  I.  2765 
Thanksgiving,  Ga-na'-o-u/t,  I. 
193,  272,  II.  159. 

Death  and  burial,  mourning,  I. 
232,  244  ;  respect  for  dead,  I. 
1 66;  mode  of  burial,  I.  166; 
food  put  in  grave,  II.  9  ;  re 
moval  of  dead,  II.  251  ;  relics 
from  graves,  II.  280,281,!.  168. 

Deep  Spring,  I.  41,  II.  86. 

Deer-buttons,  see  Games. 

Deer-trap,  II.  24 

Deities,  II.  234;  see  Aids,  Great 
Spirit,  Evil  Spirit,  Religion. 

Delawares,  Sa-ga-na'-ga,  location 
of,  I.  9  ;  vanquished,  I.  13; 
made  women,  I.  14,  328. 

Democracy,  progress  towards,  I. 
129. 

Deposition,  see  Sachems. 

Descent,    counted    in    female    line, 

I.  79,  II.  218,  271,  275. 
Destiny,  oflr.,  I.  55,  II.  108,  304; 

of  Indian,  II.  230,  304. 

Dialects,  see  Language. 

Disease,  caused  by  evil  spirits,  I. 
155,  II.  285. 

Divorce,  see  Marriage. 

Dogs,  Ir.  not  adapted  to  chase,  I. 
335  ;  sacrifice,  see  White  Dog. 

Donehogaweh,  sachem,  I.  61 ;  door 
keeper,  I.  64  ;  see  Parker,  Ely  S. 

Door-keepers,  Senecas  as,  I.  92. 

Dream-feast,  see  New  Year's  festi 
val. 

Dreams,  obedience  to,  I.  205,  206, 

II.  233  ;  sent  by  Tarenyawagon, 
II.     234  5    origin    of  totem,    II. 
218,     233  ;      Cornplanter's,     I. 
205. 


Drum,  Gd-no-jo'-o  (cut,  I.  257),  I. 
257,  II.  159. 

Dus-ga'-o-nveh-o-no' ,  name  of  Tus- 
caroras,  I.  50,  II.  306. 

Dutch,  discovery  by,  I.  4 ;  trading- 
post  at  Albany,  I.  9;  relations 
and  trade  with  Ir.,  I.  9;  mission 
aries,  II.  202. 

E. 

Earthenware,  see  Pottery. 

Education,  of  Ir.,  II.  no;  schools 
of  missionaries,  II.  110,  in  ; 
public  schools,  II.  114;  State 
Normal  do.,  II.  114. 

Elder  and  younger  brothers,  tribes 
classed  as,  I.  91,  112,  224. 

Eloquence,  regard  for,  I.  102  ; 
specimen  of,  II.  104. 

English,  amity  and  alliance  with 
Ir. ,  I.  10,  22  ;  assisted  by  Ir.  in 
Am.  Revolution,  I.  26  ;  desert 
Ir.  after  do.,  I.  27,  327  ;  develop 
ment  of  their  democracy,  I.  128. 

~E,ries,Ga-qua'-ga-o-no',ar\Iroc[uohn 
people,  II.  187  ;  location  of,  I. 
9,  1 1  ;  called  Cat  Nation,  I.  39  ; 
nearly  exterminated  by  Ir.,  I.  1 1  ; 
invited  to  join  League,  I.  71  j 
war  declared  against,  I.  107. 

Evil  Spirit,  Hd-ne-go-ate'-geh,  origin 
of,  I.  147  ;  dwelling-place,  I. 
163  ;  tempter,  I.  237  ;  causes 
disease,  I.  155. 

Exogamy,  see  Marriage,  Society. 

F. 

Fabrics,  importance  of,  II.  3  ; 
changes  in  material,  II.  47,  284; 
variety  of,  II.  5  ;  of  European 
materials,  II.  6  ;  limitations  of 
Morgan's  account,  II.  279  ; 
where  relics  found,  II.  280. 


319 


INDEX 


Faith,  keepers  of  the,  see  Keepers 

of  the  faith. 

Falsefaces,  Ga-go'-sa  (cut,  I.  157), 
race  of  demons,  I.  157  ;  order 
of,  I.  158;  boys  disguised  as, 
I.  204. 

Feather  dance,  see  Dance. 
Festivals,    periodic,    I.    175,    232; 
antiquity  of,  I.  214. 

Maple,    O-ta-de-none -ne-o    na 

rwa'-ta,  I.  1 76,  1 80,  II.  251. 

Planting,      A-yent'-^w'd-tay     I. 

176,    186. 
Strawberry,  Ha-nun-da'-yo^  I. 

176,  189. 

Whortleberry,  1.  176,  190. 
Green    Corn,    Ah-dakef-fiud-o1 

I.  176,  190. 

Harvest,  Da-yo-nun' '-neo-qua  na 
De-o-ha'-ko,  I.  176,  197. 

New  Year's,  Gi'-ye-wa-no-us- 
qua-go-iva,  I.  176,  199  ; 
date,  I.  234,  II.  262  ;  suc 
ceeds  old  Dream  Feast,  II. 
263  ;  Jesuit  accounts,  II. 
255,  2635  modern  accounts, 

II.  261. 

Death  feast,  I.  167,  318,  II. 
274. 

Festivities,  after  Council,  I.  115, 
117. 

Field,  around  village,  I.  306  ;  dis 
tant,  I.  308,  II.  251. 

Finger  weaving,  see  Weaving. 

Fire,  how  made,  II.  40,  284  ;  sym 
bol  of  nation,  I.  40. 

Firearms,  Ir.  get  from  Dutch,  I. 
10  ;  first  heard  by  Ir.  in  Cham- 
plain's  fight,  I.  105  inaugurate 
Ir.  conquests,  I.  1 1. 

Fire  drill,  Da-ya-ya-da-ga'-nea-ta 
(cut),  II.  40,  284. 

Fish  net,  basket,  Tont-ka-do-qua 
(cut),  II.  42. 


Fiske,    John,    letter    of,    II.    152; 

account  of  Ir.  society,  II.  224. 
Five   Nations,    name   of   Ir.,   I.    4, 

II.     306  ;    become    Six    Nations, 

I.  23. 

Flute,    Ta-o ' -da-^was-ta  (cut),    II. 

38. 
Food,    corn,    etc.,   staple,    I.     190, 

II.  1 60  j   hunting  not  chief  sup 
ply,     I.      191,     II.    249,     251; 
changes    in,    I.    240,    II.     1885 
storage    of,     I.     310,     II.     160; 
communism  in,  I.   318,  II.   274; 
cookery,      I.     320,      II.      160  ; 
women    provide,    I.    320  ;    dried 
meat,   I.    336  ;   Indian  contribu 
tion  to  American,  II.  251. 

Foot  races,  I.  298. 

Fort  Herkimer,  treaty  at,  I.  42. 

Fort  Schuyler  (Stanwix),  treaties  at, 

I.  41,  II.   199,  248. 
French,      discover       and       occupy 

Canada,  I.  8,  9  ;  at  enmity  with 


Ir.,     I.     10, 


scale    turned 


against  by  Ir.,  I.  n  ;  allied  with 
Adirondacks  and  Hurons,  I.  10  5 
invade  New  York,  I.  16,  308, 
II.  194;  namesforlr.,  II.  306. 

G. 

Gambling,  see  Games. 
Games,    at    councils,   I.    115;   im 
portance  of,  I.  280  5  sides  taken 
by  villages  or  phratries,   I.  281, 
288,    II.    221,   266,    269;     bet 
ting,   I.    282,    II.    266,    267. 
Peach    stone     (cut,     I.     300) 
Gus-ka'-eh,   at   festivals,    I. 
196  ;  commended,  I.   233  ; 
described,  I.   300  ;  in  medi 
cine  and  worship,  II.  265  ; 
Lafitau's  account,  II.    267  ; 
among    Hurons,    II.    266  \ 


320 


INDEX 


materials,  I.  299,  II.   465, 
267. 

Snow    snake     (cut,     I.    292), 

Ga-iva'-sa,  at  New  Year's, 

I.  207  ;   described,    I.   292. 

Snow  boat  (cut),  Da-ya-no-ta- 

yen-d'd-qud,  I.  293. 
Ball   (cut,  I.    283),    O-ta-da- 
jish'-qu'd-age,  I.    282  5  bat, 
Ga'-ne-d,  I.  283. 
Javelin   (cut,  I.   287),  Ga-na- 
g'd-o,     I.     287;     Gd-ga-dd- 
yan'-duk,  I.  289,  II.  286. 
Deer-buttons  (cut),    Gus-ga-e- 

sa'-t'd,  I.  290. 
Straws,  II.  269. 

Ga-ne-a' -ga-o-no' ,     name    of     Mo 
hawks,  I.  49,  II.  306. 
Ganowanian,    name    proposed     by 

Morgan  for  Indians,  II.  241. 
Ga'-ohy  see  Winds,  spirit  of. 
Garangula,     Onondaga     Otreouati, 
Onondaga  orator,  I.  17,  II.  194. 
Geographical  names,  I.  46  ;  dialec 
tic     variances,    I.    47,    II.     61  ; 
permanence   of,   II.    61,   62,  78, 
240,    241  ;    how    bestowed,    II. 
79  ;    rivers    and    lakes,    II.     79, 
85,     89,     242  ;  falls,     II.     98  ; 
towns  in   New  York,  II.  79  ff.  ; 
lists  of,  II.  141 ,  127,   211  ;  sig 
nificant,   II.    243  5    number    still 
in  use,  II.  240,  241. 
Geography,    Indian,  I.   35,  II.  78, 
205  ;  map  explained,   I.  465  It. 
knowledge  of,  I.   117,  II.   158. 
George,    Lake,    Champlain's    fight 
on,     I.      10 ;    contra,    II.     192; 
French  grants  on,  I.  22. 
Gouge,  see  Implements. 
Government,  If.  a  federal  republic, 

I.  58,  72  ;  local,  I.   65,  II.   219, 
224  ;  history  of  human,  I.   121, 

II.  224;  Greek,  I.  122. 

VOL.  II. —  21  321 


Grass,  braided  ornaments,  II.  51. 

Great  Spirit,  Ha-wen-ne'-yu,  divine 
Being  worshipped  by  entire  red 
race,  I.  143,  II.  233  ;  birth  of, 

I.  144,  147  }  worship  of,  I.  208, 
237,    II.    234;    Jesuits    fail    to 
recognize,  II.  264  ;  not  omnipo 
tent,  I.   154. 

Green  corn  festival,  see  Festivals. 
Ground  nuts,  To-an-jer-go-o  O-no- 

no-do,  eaten,  I.  321,  II.  34. 
Gfwe-u/-gfuue/t-o-no/y  name  of  Cayu- 

gas,  I.  49,  II.  306. 

H. 
Hale,  Horatio,  on  date  of  League, 

II.  190,    list    of    sachems,    II. 

21  I. 

Handsome  Lake,  Gd-ne-o-di' -yo , 
sachem,  I.  61,  218  5  revela 
tion  to,  I.  219,  224,  234,  241  j 
license  to  preach,  I.  220,  II. 
236. 

Harvest  festival,  see  Festivals. 

H'd-sa-no-an'-da,  see  Parker,  Ely  S. 

Hd-yo-<went'-ha,  a  sachem,  I.  60  ; 
combs  Tododaho**  hair,  I.  64 ; 
history,  I.  96  ;  no  successor,  I. 
96,  II.  215  ;  deified,  II.  234. 

Head-dress,  Gus-tof-fweh  (cut  and 
plate,  I.  254),  I.  253. 

Hemlock  tea,  I.  321,  II.  161,  252. 

Hendrick,  King,  killed  at  Lake 
George,  II.  194. 

Hiawatha,  see  H'd-yo-<went'-ha. 

History,  American,  influence  of 
Ir.  in,  I.  11,  II.  147,  148,  192, 
196,  204,  253. 

History,  of  Ir.,  I.  5,  II.  787  j  see 
Iroquois. 

Hochelaga,  see  Montreal. 

Ho-de'-no-sau-nee,  name  of  Ir.,  I. 
ii  ;  significance  of,  I.  48,  II. 
288,  302. 


INDEX 


Hommony,  ?  On-non-ta-ra,  I.  197, 
II.  28,  249. 

Blade,    Gdt-go-ne-as-heh   (cut, 
II.  45),  II.  44- 

Ho-no-ive-na'-toy  see  Wampum 
keeper. 

Hospitality,  universal,  I.  318,  II. 
1 60  }  observance  of,  I.  318. 

Household,  social  unit,  II.  217; 
independent,  II.  220  ;  property, 
II.  273. 

Houses,  Ga-no'-sote  (plate,  I.  3, 
plans,  II.  294,  295),  little  certain 
knowledge,  II.  288  ;  Bartram's 
account,  II.  293  ;  General  Clark 
on,  II.  298  ;  dimensions  and 
occupation,  I.  307,  II.  288,  292, 
293,  298,  299  ;  construction,  I. 
308  ;  chimney  opening,  I.  225, 
309,  II.  289,  302  ;  fireplace,  II. 

289,  291,      301  ;     number    of 
fires,  II.    288,    292,    296,    297  ; 
internal  arrangements,  II.  288  ff., 
292,  293,  298  5   discomforts,  II. 

290,  291,      292,      300,      301  5 
closets,    II.     291  ;     storage,    II. 
290,    293,    294;  beds,   II.    290, 
293  j     doors,    II.     291  ;     locks, 
II.     291  ;    vestibules,     II.     291  ; 
number  of  inmates,    I.    318,  II. 
229,    292,    293,    298  ;    Lafitaifs 
specifications,    II.     288  ;    raising 
bee,  II.  289  ;  extension,  II.  302  ; 
modern    reproductions,   II.    299, 
300  ;  scattered,  II.  88  5  of  other 
Indians,    II.    300  ;    of   Arauca- 
nians,    II.    300  j   hunting  lodge, 

I.  310. 

Hunter  state,  Ir.  in,  I.  52  ;  bar  to 
progress,  I.  53  ;  incompatible 
with  monarchy,  I.  131. 

Hunting,  not  chief  support,  I.  191, 

II.  248  j    methods  of,    I.    335  j 
traps,   I.    335  }   battue,   I.    336  ; 


close  season,  I.  335,-  netting 
birds,  I.  335;  bear-hunt,  I.  336  5 
lodge,  I.  3105  grounds  open  to 
all,  I.  44;  location  of,  I.  337. 

Huron  language,  at  Montreal,  I. 
9  ;  Ir.  branch  of,  I.  9. 

Hurons,  Wane-dote,  an  Iroquoian 
people,  II.  187  ;  kin  to  Oneidas, 
II.  222  ;  location,  I.  9,  II. 
187  ;  allied  with  French,  I.  10  j 
overthrown,  I.  1 1  ;  at.  Montreal, 
II.  189,  191  ;  clans  of,  II.  225  ; 
village,  II.  229. 


I. 

Illinois    Indians,    location     of,     I. 
9  ;  attacked   by  Senecas,   I.   12  ; 
houses,  II.   300. 
Immortality,  I.   162,  169. 
Implements,  metal,  unknown,  II.  9. 
Stone   axes,   O-sque'-sont  (cut) 

II.   1 1,  281,  282. 
Stone  chisel,     Uh'-ga-o-givat'- 

ha,  II.   10,  282. 
Stone  club,  II.   n,  282. 
Stone  gouge,  II.   10. 
Incense,  see  Tobacco,  Wampum. 
Indians,    sundry    tribes,    see    under 

tribal  names. 

Indians,  disunited,  I.  145  charac 
teristics,  capacity,  and  progress, 
!•  5*>  53,  i34,n.  112,  145,  155, 
305;  organizations  ephemeral,  I. 
53,  136  5  unity  of  race,  II.  60, 
302;  destiny  of,  II.  60,  no, 
230,  304;  policy  of  U.  S.  toward, 
II.  119,  121,  305  5  rank  of  Ir. 
among,  I.  3,  52,  54,  II.  147, 
303  ;  numbers,  II.  229  ;  con 
tribution  to  civilization,  II.  253  j 
to  English  language,  II.  249. 
Inferior  deities,  see  Aids,  Support 
ers,  Religion. 


322 


INDEX 


Inheritance,  in  female  line,  I.  80, 
130,  II.  271  ;  what  heritable,  I. 
3175  administration  by  clan,  I. 
318  ;  death  feast,  I.  318,  II. 
274,  276.  See  Property. 

Intoxicants,  received  from  whites, 
I.  325  5  effects  of,  I.  325. 

Iroquoians,  II.   187. 

Iroquois,  Ho-de'-no-sau-nee,  origin 
and  early  abode,  I.  5,  n,  II. 
187,  191  ;  history  and  career,  I. 
3,  136,  II.  107,  187,  2045  learn 
agriculture,  I.  5,  II.  188  ;  enter 
New  York,  I.  5,  II.  188,  190, 
191;  subdivided  in  New  York,  I. 
6  $  united  in  League,  I.  7,  II. 
189,  190;  greatest  prosperity  in 
1650,  I.  25  5  Indian  wars  and 
conquests,  I.  8,  9,  n,  13,  37, 
52,  II.  147,  193  }  establish 
colonies,  I.  12,  14;  territories, 

I.  37  j  adopted  tribes,  I.  23,  42, 
43,   II.  302  ;  first   meeting  with 
whites,   I.    10,    306  ;    wars   with 
French,   I.    10,    15  ff. ,    II.    192, 
194;    alliance    with    Dutch   and 
English,  I.  9,   20,    26,   II.    105, 
147,  192,  194;  in  Pontiac  war, 

II.  195  $  in    American   Revolu 
tion,    I.    26,    II.    195  ;    in   War 
of  1812,  II.  199  j  in  Civil  War, 
II.    199  5   recent   history,   I.    27, 
II.     304 ;     decline,    I.    24,    II. 
228  $    present   condition,    I.    ix, 
28>  33>  53>  II.    no,  270,    304  ; 
characteristics,  I.    33,  116,  251, 
320,    326,    327,    II.    118,    154, 
155,  205,  291,  3015  culture,   I. 
52,  117,  II.  3;   language,  I.    9, 
II.  241  ;   numbers,  I.  23,  32,  II. 
no,  226;   rank  among  Indians, 
I.  3,  52,  II.  147,  303;    destiny, 
I.     ix,    II.    108,    305  5   influence 
in  history,  I.  1 1,  16,  21,  II.  147, 


192,   204;   influence  on  United 
States  constitution,  II.  148,  204. 

J- 

Javelin,  Ga-geh'-da  (cut,  I.  287), 
see  Games. 

Jesuits,  missions  of,  I.  22  ;  estab 
lish  Ir.  colony  on  St.  Lawrence, 

I.  24  j   remains  of  teachings,  I. 
164,  II.  235  j  invent  games,  II. 
265. 

Jogues,  Isaac,   discoverer   of  Lake 

George,  II.  192. 
Johnson,    Jimmy,    Sose-ha'-nxa,    I. 

210,  221  5   discourse  by,  I.  223  ; 

"adopts    Morgan,"     II.     163; 

death,   II.    202. 
Johnson,     Sir     William,     Mohawk 

Wa-ra-i-ya-gehy    II.    84  5    keeps 

Ir.    tranquil    in     Pontiac' s    war, 

II.  195  j  on  wampum,  II.  248. 
Jouskeha,  Ir.  deity,  II.  234. 

K. 

Keepers  of  the  Faith,  Ho-nun-de'- 
unt,  I.  70  ;  number,  appoint 
ment,  and  functions,  I.  177,  239, 
II.  215  5  not  a  priesthood,  I. 
179  ;  in  New  Year's  feast,  I.  200, 
203,  II.  257  ;  names,  II.  239  ; 
sachems  are,  II.  235. 

Keppler,  Joseph,  Gy-ant'-wa-ka, 
II.  283. 

Kilt,  Ga-ka'-ah  (plate,  I.  184),  I. 
252. 

Kinship,  see  Relationship. 

Kirkland,  Samuel,  missionary,  II. 
202 ;  influences  Oneidas  for 
Americans,  II.  195. 

Knee  band,  see  Band. 

Knee  rattles,  Gus-da'-^wa-sa  Ten- 
che-no-hos-ta  (cut),  I.  255. 

Knives,  of  chert,  II.  9. 


323 


INDEX 


Lacrosse,  see  Games,  Ball. 
Ladles,  Ah-do-qua'-say  wooden,  II. 

43,  46  (cut,  II.  44);  bark  (cut), 

II.  46. 
Lafitau,    J.    F. ,   on    wampum,    II. 

245  j    on    games,    II.    267  ;     on 

houses,  II.  288. 
Land,  see  Property. 
Language,      Iroquois,      of    Huron 

stock,  I.  9  j  dialectic  differences, 

I.  47,   II.    615    six  dialects,    II. 
62  j  their  characteristics,  II.  62  ; 
alphabet,  II.  62  5  sounds,  II.  63  j 
no    labials,    II.    75,    2415    speci 
men  words,  II.  64  j  few  abstract 
terms,  II.  243  ;  number,  II.  65  ; 
numerals,    II.    66  ;     gender,    II. 
66  ;   adjective,    II.    66  ;    declen 
sion,  II.  70;  substantive,  II.  64  ; 
few   roots,    II.    67  ;    compounds 
contracted,   II.    67  ;    article,   II. 
68  ;    adverb,    II.     68  ;    preposi 
tion,   II.    68  ;  pronoun,   II.   71  ; 
interjection,    II.     71  ;    verb,    II. 
71,    2445    conjugation,    II.     73, 
140  ;     voice,     II.     75  ;     Lord's 
Prayer,  in  Seneca,  II.  76  ;  a  liv 
ing  tongue,  II.  240. 

Language,  sign,  none  in   East,  II. 

243. 
League,     an     oligarchy,     I.     130; 

gradual  development  of,  I.   132, 

II.  190,  224  ;   stability,  I.   133  ; 
a  federal  republic,  I.  58,  II.  148; 
model  for  United  States,  II.   148, 
204,-  origin,  I.  5,  7,  57,  II.  189; 
an  express  compact,    I.   54,    59  ; 
date    of,    I.     7,    II.     190,    2525 
peace   an   object  of,   I.    72,    875 
domestic   peace  attained,    I.    78, 
133,  II.  204  ;  a  union  of  clans, 
I.  78  ;   double  bond  of,  II.  223  ; 
nations  equal  in,  I.   88  5  property 


of,  II.  272  ;  pine-tree  emblem, 
II.  247  j  adjudged  extinct,  II. 
247. 

League  of  the  Iroquois,  origin  of 
the  work,  I.  xiii,  II.  156,  165  j 
review  by  Parkman,  II.  165  ; 
appreciation  by  Fiske,  II.  152  ; 
original  editions,  II.  179;  ori 
gin  of  this  edition,  II.  151  ;  new 
matter,  II.  149. 

Legends,  I.  160;  recited,  I.  161, 
II.  255  ;  not  told  in  Summer,  I. 
162,  II.  255  j  Seneca,  of  Giant, 
II.  90  ;  of  Mammoth,  II.  2545 
of  pygmies,  I.  160,  II.  255  ; 
land  of  souls,  II.  254  ;  nature 
myths,  II.  253. 

Leggin,  Gise'-ha  (plates,  I.  256, 
274,  II.  100),  I.  254;  female, 
II.  49- 

Liberty,  among  Ir. ,  I.   130. 

Life,  Our,  see  Supporters. 

Lingua  franca,  of  Canada,  II.  249. 

Litter,  see  Burden  frame. 

Logan,  a  Cayuga  Sachem,  I.  95. 

Long  House,  literal,  see  House ;  as 
symbol  of  League,  I.  48,  90,  97, 
133,  II.  215,  301. 

Longevity,  of  Ir.,  I.  244. 

M. 

Manitou,  see  Totem,  personal. 

Map  of  Iroquois  territories,  Mor 
gan's,  I.  iii,  see  I.  46,  II.  207, 
208  j  Beauchamp's,  II.  iii,  see 
II.  208  5  Romer's,  II.  208. 

Maple  festival,  see  Festivals. 

Maple  sugar,  I.  186,  321,  II.  27, 
31  ;  sap,  II.  251. 

MarriagCj  species  and  evolution, 
II.  269,  270  ;  out  of  clan,  I.  79, 
II.  218,  221,  275  ;  how  made 
and  dissolved,  I.  228,  311; 


INDEX 


mothers  arrange,  I.  312  ;  cere 
mony,  I.  313  ;  consanguine,  II. 
172,  269  ;  Punaluan,  II.  219, 
269  j  Syndyasmian,  II.  270  ; 
monogamian,  II.  270  ;  polyg 
amy,  I.  315,  II.  270  j  divorce, 

I.  315,  II.  271. 
Massachusetts,  aided  by  Mohawks, 

II.  193  5   cedes  jurisdiction    and 
lands  in  New  York,  II.  199,  200. 

Meals,  separation  at,  I.  197,  319, 
II.  159- 

Medals  (cuts,  II.  55,  56),  Gd-nuh'- 
sa  (sea-shell  medal),  II.  55. 

Medicine,  I.  240,  II.  285  {  dance, 
I.  279,  II.  254  5  games,  II. 
265,  266  5  remedies,  violent,  II. 
260,  285  ;  secret,  II.  273  ;  sur 
gery,  II.  285  5  asepsis,  II.  285  5 
physicians,  II.  285. 

Metals,  not  used  by  Ir.,  II.  9. 

Miamis,  location,  I.  9  5  attacked, 
I.  13. 

Migrations,  see  Iroquois,  origin  of. 

Minsis,  location,  1.95   conquered, 

I.  13- 

Mission  Indians,  I.  25. 
Missionaries,    I.     22  $    schools    of, 

II.  110  ;   Dutch  and  English,  II. 
202  ;  see  Jesuits. 

Moccason,      Ah  -  td  -  qua  -  o'  -  <weh 

(plates,  I.   35,   44,    79),  I.  255  ; 

deer-skin,   II.    115  elk-skin,    II. 

12  5  how  made,  II.   12. 
Mohekunnucks,    adopted     by    Ir., 

I.    43- 
Mohawks,  Gd-ne-a'-ga-o-no',  origin, 

I.  6,  II.   1 8  8,    191  5   at   Quebec, 

II.  191  ;    only  three    clans    and 
one     phratry,    I.     77,    II.    225; 
feared  by  New  England  Indians, 
I.    125   defeated   by   Champlain, 
I.   10  5  territories,  I.   36,  43  ;   re 
ceivers  of  tribute,  I.  90  j   protect 


New  England.  II.  193  ;  assist 
English  in  Seven  Years'  War, 
II.  194;  remove  to  Canada,  I. 
28  5  present  condition,  II.  305. 

Montreal,  Huron  ?  Hochelaga,  early 
abode  of  Ir.,  I.  5,  II.  189  ; 
Huron  spoken  at,  I.  9,  II. 
1 8  8,  191  ;  Ramusio's  picture 
of  Hochelaga,  II.  191,  298. 

Morgan,  Lewis  S.,  Ta-yd-dd-o-nvuh1- 
kuh  (portrait,  II.  153),  adopted 
as  Seneca,  I.  xi,  II.  158,  163  ; 
Iroquois  studies,  I.  xi,  II.  154, 
156,  1575  war-dance  in  his 
honor,  1.  264  ;  value  of  work, 
II.  147,  148,  150,  156,  161, 
224,  2445  biography,  II.  153, 
1625  champion  of  Senecas  against 
injustice,  I.  xi,  II.  156,  163, 
201  ;  discoveries,  II.  166,  167, 
217  5  visits  to  Western  tribes, 
II.  302  ;  state  of  science  in  his 
time,  II.  150,  244. 

Mortar,  stone,  II.  10  ;  wooden, 
Gd-ne'-gd-td  (cut),  II.  29,  160, 
281. 

Mound-builders,  remains  in  N.  Y., 
II.  5,  202  5  pipe  of,  II.  8  ; 
needles  of,  II.  12. 

Mound,  near   Geneva,  II.  90. 

Maurning,  period   of,  I.   167,  244. 

Mourning  Councils,  see  Councils. 

Miiller,  Max,  on  Mohawk  language, 
II.  244. 

Murder,  punishment  of,  I.  322  ; 
atonement  for,  I.  323,  II.  273. 

Music,  I.  259,  269,  272,  276,  277, 
II.  159- 

Myths,  see  Legends. 

N. 

Names,     geographical,     see     Geo 
graphical  names. 
Names,    personal,    II.     237  ;    how 


325 


INDEX 


bestowed,  I.  85,  II.  238  ;  char 
acteristics  of,  I.  85,  II.  216, 
237  j  changed,  II.  238,  239  } 
office  and  title  inseparable,  II. 
239,  240  j  of  dead  restored,  II. 
239  $  of  living  transferred,  I. 
206,  II.  240. 

Nanticokes,  location,  I.  9  ;  van 
quished,  I.  13. 

Nations,  local  governments,  I.  65  5 
equality  of,  I.  88.  See  Tribes. 

Necklace,  Ga'-de-us-ha'  (plate,  I. 
254)>  H.  51. 

Needle  book,  Ta~ewa-o-da-quiat 
(plate,  II.  30) 

Needles,  Ga-fwa,  of  bone,  II.  12, 
282;  found  in  mounds,  II.  12. 

Neuter  or  Neutral  Nation,  Je-go'- 
sa-sa,  an  Iroquoian  people,  II. 
187  }  location  of,  I.  9,  II.  1875 
expelled  from  Niagara  peninsula, 

I.  1 1  ;  called  Cat  Nation,  I.  39  j 
invited    to  join    League,    I.    71  5 
villages,  II.  229. 

New  England  Indians,  become  de 
pendent,  I.  3  j  location,  I.  9  ; 
driven  out  by  Ir.,  I.  125  fear 
Mohawks,  I.  12  ;  defeated  by 
Mohawks,  II.  193  5  adopted  by 
Ir.,  I.  43. 

New  England,  protected  by  Ir.,  II. 

193- 

New  Year's  festival,  see   Festivals. 
New  York  State,  Ir.  enter,  I.   5,6, 

II.  1 88  ;  early  inhabitants,  I.  6, 
II.   191  5   invaded   by    French,  I. 
1 6  ;    policy   towards  Ir.,    I.    28, 
33,  II.   112  ff.,  304;   obligations 
to  Ir.,  II.   104,   115,  192. 

Niagara,  abode  of  He'-no,  I.  150  ; 
origin  of  name,  II.  97  ;  centre 
of  Iroquoian  population,  II.  187. 

Nichols  Pond,  site  of  fort  attacked 
by  Champlain,  II.  192. 


Nottoways,  an  Iroquoian  people, 
II.  187. 

Numbers,  of  Ir. ,  I.  23,  24,  25, 
32,  33,  II.  no,  2265  warriors, 
II.  227  j  decrease  and  increase, 
II.  228  j  of  Indians  in  U.  S.,  II. 
229. 

Nun-da'->-iva-o-no',  name  of  Senecas, 
I.  48,  II.  306. 

O. 

Ogden  Land  Co.,  claim  to  Ir.  lands, 
I.  31,  32,  II.  156,  121,  199 

201. 

Ohio,  Ir.  in,  I.   n  ;   river,  II.  101. 

Oligarchy,  League  an,  I.  58,  125  5 
defined,  I.  125. 

O-na'-yote-ka-o-no',na.me  ofOneidas, 
I.  49,  II.  306. 

Oneidas,  O-na'-yote-ka-o-no',  origin, 
I.  6,  II.  1 88  }  perhaps  attacked 
by  Champlain,  II.  192  ;  kin  of 
Hurons,  II.  222  ;  only  three  clans 
and  one  phratry,  I.  77,  II.  225  5 
territories,  I.  36,  40,  II.  208  ; 
refuse  to  attack  Americans,  I. 
26,  108,  II.  195  5  thanked  by 
United  States,  II.  196  ;  migrate 
after  Revolution,  I.  28  ;  present 
condition,  II.  304. 

Onondaga,  first  council  at,  I.  7, 
57  5  burnt  by  French,  I.  20  j 
contra,  II.  194  ;  place  of  coun 
cils,  I.  90,  II.  87,  247  ;  much 
visited,  II.  206. 

Onondagas,  O-nun'-d'd-ga-o-no', 
origin,  I.  6,  II.  188  ;  territories, 
I.  36,  40  ;  originate  League,  I. 
7  ;  keep  council  brand  and  wam 
pum,  I.  62,  65,  89  j  attacked 
by  Champlain,  II.  192  ;  burn 
their  own  town,  II.  194  ;  present 
abode  and  condition,  I.  29,  II. 
3°5- 


326 


INDEX 


Ontario,  Lake,  Ir.  towns  on  North 

Shore  of,  I.  n. 
O-nun'-da-ga-o-no',  name  of  Onon- 

dagas,  I.  49,  II.   306. 
Oratory,  see  Eloquence. 
Orchards,  Indian,  II.  90,  251. 
Ornaments,   of  stone,    II.     115    of 

silver,  II.  49. 
Ottawas,  location  of,  I.  9. 
Over-dress,      Ah-de-a1 -da-<we-sa 

(plates,  I.   190,   191),  II.  49. 


P. 


Palisades,  around  village,  I.   306. 

Pantalette,  see  Leggin,  female. 

Parker,  Caroline  G.,  Ga-hah'-no, 
Je-go'-sa-sa  (plate,  frontispiece 
to  Vol.  II.),  II.  160,  182;  bead 
work  of,  II.  47. 

Parker,  Ely  S.,  Ha-sa-no-an'-da, 
Do-ne-ho-ga'-iva,  dedication  to, 
I.  vii ;  co-laborer  with  Morgan, 
I.  xi,  II.  154,  1825  in  dance; 

I.  265;  biography,  II.   154,  180, 
MS.  pf,  II.  152;  list  of  Sachems, 

II.  211. 

Parker,  Nicholson,  Da-ah-de-a 
(plate,  frontispiece  to  Vol.  I.), 
II.  182;  his  list  of  dances,  II. 
287. 

Parkman,  Francis,  value  of  his 
work,  II.  147,  148;  review  of 
League,  II.  165  ;  on  origin  of 
League,  II.  190  ;  on  antiquity 
of  Ir.  society,  II.  224;  Oregon 
Trail,  II.  302,  303. 

Payne,  Edward  John,  on  numbers 
of  Indians,  II.  229;  on  cereals, 
II.  249. 

Peace,  an  object  of  League,  I.  72, 
87;  domestic,  I.  78,  133,  II. 
204. 

Peach  stone  game,  see  Games. 


Philip,  King,  defeated  by  Mo 
hawks,  II.  193. 

Phratry,  De-a-non-da'-a-yoh,  two  in 
each  nation,  I.  755  origin,  I.  76, 
II.  218,  221;  changes,  II.  221; 
of  Ir.  and  Hurons,  II.  225;  Mo 
hawks  and  Oneidas  have  but 
one,  I.  77,  II.  2255  marriage 
out  of,  I.  79,  II.  221;  in  games, 

I.  281,  294,    II.  221,    269  5   ex 
acts  reparation,  I.    323;   sachem- 
ships  in,  II.  212. 

Pincushion,  Ya-^wd-o-da-qua  (plate, 

II.  82). 

Pine  tree,  emblem  of  League,  II. 
247,  I.  114. 

Pipes,  Ah-so-qua'-ta  (plate,  I.  105, 
cuts,  II.  7,  8);  of  pottery  and 
stone,  II.  6,  7;  mound-builders, 
II.  8. 

Planting  festival,  see  Festivals. 

Pocket  book,  Got-gnuen-dd  (plate, 
II.  115). 

Pontiac,  War  of,  II.   195, 

Porcupine,  Ga-ha-da,  quills  of, 
see  Quills. 

Porter,  Charles  T.,  co-laborer  with 
Morgan,  I.  xii  ;  reminiscences 
by,  II.  153  $  biography,  II. 
183. 

Pottery  (cut,  II.  9),  Ir.,  II.  6; 
ancient  art,  II.  6;  mark  of  cul 
ture,  II.  28 1  j  material,  II.  6, 
2805  ornament,  II.  280;  vessel, 
Ga-j'ik ',  II.  9  ;  round-bottomed, 
II.  280,  281;  not  washed,  II. 
281;  in  sugar  making,  II.  251; 
from  graves,  II.  9. 

Pouch,  Yun-gcf-sa  (cuts),  of  skin, 
II.  38. 

Powell,  John  W.,  on  democracy, 
II.  150;  sketch  of  Morgan,  II. 
1665  on  personal  names,  II.  zi6j 
on  society,  II.  224. 


327 


INDEX 


Powhattan  confederacy,  invaded,  I. 
135  houses,  II.  300. 

Praying  Indians,  I.  25. 

Pre-emption,  of  Ir.  lands,  see  Ogden 
Land  Co. 

Priesthood,  none,  I.   179. 

Prisoners  of  war,  see  Captives. 

Property,  neither  had  nor  desired, 
I.  131;  inheritance  of,  I.  80,  II. 
271,  273,  274,  2765  in  land,  I. 
306,  317,  II.  1 1 8,  2725  in  per 
sonalty,  I.  317,  II.  272;  wife's 
separate,  I.  317,  II.  2735  transfer, 

I.  317,  II.  274;   evolution  of  law 
of,    II.    274  5    wills,  I.   317,    II. 
277. 

Public  opinion,  power  of,  I.  66,  71, 

100. 

Punishment,  future,  I.  163,  229. 

Q- 

Quebec,  Mohawk?  Stadacona,  Adi- 
rondacks  at,  I.  8  ;  Mohawks  at, 

II.  191. 

Quills,  of  porcupine,  O-ha'-da 
(plate,  I.  58),  I.  253,  256,  II. 
J7- 

R. 

Ramusio,    picture     of    Hochelaga, 

II.   191,  298. 
Rattles,  Gus-dd'-cwa-s'd,  knee  (cut), 

I.  255  ;   squash    (cut),    I.    276  5 
turtle  (cut,  I.  268),  I.  269. 

Red  Jacket,  O-te-ti-an'-i,  Sd-go-ye- 
<wdt'-hd,  made  a  chief,  I.  855 
most  gifted  of  Ir.,  I.  97;  birth 
place,  II.  88. 

Relationships,  II.  218;  how  com 
puted,  I.  8 1  5  names  of,  I.  82; 
antiquity  of,  I.  56;  universal  sys 
tem  of,  II.  169;  form  of  address, 

II.  240  ;  see  Society. 
Relics,  I.   1 68,   II.  280. 


Religion,  ancient,  maintained,  I. 
33;  character  of,  I.  142,  II. 
161;  limited  pantheism,  II.  233, 
2535  compared  with  Greek,  I. 
1435  influence  of,  I.  174;  ethics, 
II.  234;  doctrines,  I.  162;  "The 
New,"  I.  217,  II.  235;  "The 
License,1'  II.  2365  sermon,  I. 
224;  see  Councils;  Punishment, 
Future;  Worship;  Deities;  Great 
Spirit;  Evil  Spirit;  Handsome 
Lake;  Johnson. 

Reservations,  I.  28  ff.    II.   304. 

Revolution,  see  American  Revo 
lution. 

Ring,  in  javelin  game,  see   Games. 

Ritual,  in  council,  I.   113. 

Romer,  Col.,  his  map,  II.  208. 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  Hd-no-dd- 
ga'-ne-ars,  on  numbers  and  des 
tiny  of  Indians,  II.  230;  on 
Indian  policy  of  U.  S.,  II.  305. 

Rope,  bark,  II.   16. 

Runners,  II.  105. 

S. 

Sachems,  Ho-yar-na-go'-<war,  I.  66; 
fifty  permanent,  I.  59,  62;  ruling 
powers,  I.  62;  are  Keepers  of 
Faith,  II.  235;  succession,  I. 
59,  80,  83,  103,  108,  II.  219, 
220;  title  remains  in  clan,  I.  83; 
captive  becomes,  II.  278;  equal, 
I.  59;  title,  I.  59,  62,  83;  dis 
tributed  among  nations,  I.  59, 
76;  deposed,  I.  84;  limited  to 
original  five  nations,  I.  93,  II. 
302  ;  authority  throughout 
League,  I.  59,  91;  classes  of, 

I.  106,    II.  215  ;    duties,    I.  99, 

II.  220;  list  of,  I.    60,    II.  21 1 ; 
assistants,   I.    64,    II.   215,   217; 
meaning  of  titles,  II.  212,    216, 
240;  variations  in  titles,  II.  217$ 


323 


INDEX 


age    of  titles,    II.    216;    double 

line,    II.     2165    origin  of   word, 

II.    217. 
Saddle,  Ah- da -da- qua  (cut,  II.  36), 

western  invention,  II.  35. 
St.    Lawrence,   Ir.    dwell    on,  I.  5, 

II.   1905   hold  both  banks,  I.  15, 

II.   187. 
St.    Regis,    reservation,    I.     25,    II. 

3°5- 
Sap     tub,     bark,    Gd-o-<wo'    (cut), 

II.  27. 

Schools,  see  Education. 

Senecas,  NuH-da'-wa-o-no1,  origin, 
I.  6,  II.  1885  invade  Illinois, 
I.  12;  controversy  with  Ogden 
Land  Co.,  I.  31  j  territories  of, 
I  37>  39  5  keep  door,  I.  64, 
90  ;  have  both  high  war  chiefs, 
I.  905  in  War  of  1812,  II.  22  ; 
present  abode  and  condition,  I. 
31,  II.  304. 

Shawnees,  Sa--wa-no'-o-no,  location, 

I.  9;    vanquished,    I.    135    war- 
dance,  I.  258. 

Shoulder      belt,       Tunt-ka-to-da-td 

(plate),  II.   105. 
Sieve,  Ne-us-tase-ah,  of  splints  (cut), 

II.  31;  basket,  II.   30,  41. 
Silver   (plates,    II.    8,    50,  cut,    II. 

55),  working  of,  II.  50;  orna 
ments  of,  II.  49,  50. 

Sioux,  Wa-sa'-seh-o-no,  war-dance 
obtained  from,  I.  258;  early 
home  of,  II.  188. 

Sisters,  Three,  see  Supporters. 

Six  Nations,  name  of  Ir.,  I.  23,  II. 
306. 

Skenandoah,  Oneida  Chief,  friend 
of  Americans,  II.  195;  nom  de 
plume  of  Morgan,  II  164. 

Skins,  dressing  of,  II.  13;  strings 
of,  II.  1 6. 

Skirt,    Ga-ka'-ah    (plates,    I.    122, 


II.    48),  II.    46;   fine   specimen, 

II.  47- 

Slaves,  see  Captives. 
Sledges,  bark,  I.  336. 
Smith,   John,   meets  Ir.   on  Chesa 

peake,  I.   13. 
Snow  boat,  see  Games. 
Snow  shoe,    Ga-^weh'-ga   (cut,    II. 

35),  construction,    II.    34,    284; 

how  worn,  II.  34;  value,  II.  34, 

35,  284. 

Snow  snake,  see  Games. 
Society,  forms  of,  I.  121;  antiquity 

of  Ir.,   I.    56,    II.    2245    not   an 

evolution,   I.    54;   clan  organiza 

tion  of,   I.  75,  II.    217,-   Greek, 

I.  122;   Morgan's  studies  of,  II. 
166,    1675  terms  used  by   Mor 
gan,  II.  223. 

Spencer,   Thomas,   Oneida   patriot, 

II.  195- 

Spirits,  see  Great  Spirit,  Evil  Spirit, 

Supporters,  etc. 
Splint,  uses  of,  II.  425  how  made, 

II.  43;  fish  net  of,  II.  42;  sieve, 


II.   31. 

Squash,  O-ga-gd-ind  (gray  squash), 
Spirit  of,  I.  1525  long  cultivated, 

I.  191;   staple  food,    I.  3215  in 
digenous,     II.     34  ;      Algonquin 
word,  II.  252. 

Squier,  E.  G.,  on  Mound-builders, 

II.  202. 

Stockades,  around  villages,  I.  305, 

306. 
Stone   Age,  of  Ir.  ,   II.    279,  280; 

Sioux  in,  II.   303. 
Strawberry,   festival,    see    Festivals; 

jelly,  I.   190. 
Subject     nations,    many    tribes   be 

come,  I.   13,   II.  147. 
Succotash,  I.   196. 
Sullivan,    Gen.    John,    invades    Ir. 


329 


INDEX 


territory,    I.     27,     II.     89, 

251. 


90, 


Sun,  worship  of,    I.   194,    234,    II. 

232,  234,  263,  264. 
Supporters,  Our,  De-o-ha'-ko,  Spirits 

of  corn,  beans,  and    squashes,  I. 

1915  form  of,  I.  1535    thanks  to, 

I.   194,  233,  240. 
Susquehannocks,  see  Conestogas. 
Swan,  Ah-iveh'-ah-ah,  wild  in  New 

York,  I.  35. 


T. 


Tanning,  II.   13. 

Tarenyawagon,  Ir.  deity,  sender  of 
dreams,  II.  234. 

Tawannears,  war  chief,  I.  69  ;  see 
Blacksnake. 

Tayendanaga,  see  Brant,  Joseph. 

Territory,  of  Ir.,  I.   37. 

Thanksgiving,  I.  175,  2105  dance, 
Ga-na'-o-uh)  I.  193  ;  concert, 
Ah-do'-^weh,  I.  195,  213,  233, 
277  ;  most  important  part  of 
religion,  II.  235. 

Thayendanegea,  see  Brant,  Joseph. 

Theft,  very  rare,  I.  324. 

Thread,  of  sinew,  II.  12. 

Three  sisters,  see  Supporters. 

Thunder,  spirit  of  (He' -no}  I.  149  ; 
dwelt  under  Niagara,  I.  1505 
prayer  to,  for  rain,  I.  188,-  thanks 
to,  I.  233  ;  myth  of,  II.  253. 

Ticonderoga,  Champlain's  fight 
near,  II.  192. 

Tionnontates,  see  Tobacco  nation. 

Tobacco,  O-yeh'-gvoa-d'-rweh)  as 
incense,  I.  155,  184,  209,  210, 
233,  240,  II.  232,  261  ;  cultiva 
tion  of,  II.  335  not  chewed,  II. 
34  ;  smoked,  II.  34,  252  ;  mild, 
II.  252. 

Tobacco    nation,    Tionnontates,    an 

330 


Iroquoian  people,  II.  187  ;  loca 
tion,  II.  187  ;  villages,  II.  229. 

Tododaho,  a  sachem,  I.  61  j  most 
noble  of  sachems,  I.  63,  90  ;  in 
treaty,  II.  248. 

Tomahawk,  O-sque'-sont  (cut,  II. 
15),  stone,  II.  ii  5  steel,  II.  15  j 
uses,  II.  283  ;  Cornplanter's, 

I.  206,    II.   283. 
Tonawanda,    band    of  Senecas,    I. 

31,     II.    200,    304. 

Torture,  see  Captives. 
Totems,  O-ki,  of  clans,  I.  76  j  over 
door  of  house,  I.  309  ;  in  names, 

II.  216,  237  5   origin,    II.    218  ; 
reverence  for,  II.  233  ;   personal, 
II.     233  ;  lost  at  Oriskany,    II. 
233. 

Trade,  Ir.,  with  Dutch  and  English 
in  furs  and  firearms,  I.  10. 

Trails,  Wd-a-given'-ne-yu,  I.  44  j 
origin,  II.  205,  206  ;  well  trav 
elled,  II.  80,  94,  205  ;  central, 
II.  80,  205  ;  through  forest,  II. 
94  ;  blazed,  II.  94,  205  ;  re 
paired,  II.  206  j  antiquity  of, 
II.  95;  permanent,  II.  95  ; 
Ontario,  II.  96  ;  Genesee,  II. 
98  5  Susquehanna,  II.  102  ;  no 
bridges,  II.  157. 

Traps,  deer,  I.  335,  II.  24;  bear, 
bird,  II.  24. 

Travel,  frequent,  I.  1 1 6  ;  rate  of, 
II.  105. 

Treaties,  with  U.  S.  at  end  of 
Revolution,  I.  27,  II.  199,  248  ; 
at  Fort  Schuyler,  I.  41  ;  at  Fort 
Herkimer,  I.  42  ;  with  Oneidas, 
II.  196  ;  Ir.  faithful  to,  I.  327. 

Tribe,  definition  and  attributes,  II. 
222  ;  division  of,  II.  222  ;  alle 
giance,  II.  222,  223  ;  property, 
II.  272  5  names,  II.  306  j  see 
Clan  and  Nation. 


INDEX 


Tuscaroras,  Dus-ga'-o-<weh-o-no' , 
admitted  to  League,  I.  23,  42,  II. 
302  5  formerly  in  North  Carolina, 
II.  1875  expelled  from  North 
Carolina,  I.  42  ;  territory  of,  I. 
42;  status  in  League,  I.  93; 
origin,  II.  77  ;  present  abode 
and  condition,  II.  305. 

u. 

Unamis,  vanquished,  I.   13. 
Unanimity,    required     in     Council, 

I.  106,   II.  200. 

University  of  State  of  New  York, 
Ho-no-fwe-na  -toy  raised  up  as 
wampum  keeper,  II.  247. 

V. 

Van  Buren,  Martin,  Ha-no-da-ga '- 
ne-ars,  message  on  Seneca  treaty, 

II.  200. 

Vermont,  hunting-ground  of  Mo 
hawks,  II.  189. 

Villages,  removal  of,  I.  37,  167, 
II.  194,  251  j  permanent,  I. 
305  ;  stockaded,  I.  305,  II. 
299  ;  location  and  plan,  I.  305, 
307  ;  fortified,  attacked  by  Cham- 
plain,  II.  192. 

Virginia  Indians,  become  depend 
ent,  I.  3. 

W. 

Waist  cloth,  see  Breech  cloth. 

Walker, Francis  A.,  onlr. ,  II.  205. 

Wampum,  Ote-ko'-a  (plate,  II.  52), 
council  called  by,  I.  104  ;  how 
sent  forward,  II.  245  ;  as  record, 

I.  327,    329  j    reading,    I.     114, 

II.  245,      246  ;      necessary     to 
treaty,    I.    104,    327  ;   in   confes 
sion,  I.  164,  1 80  j  in  atonement, 
I.    322  5    burnt   with  white  dog, 


I.  208  ;  primitive,  of  spiral  shells, 

II.  515  materials  and  origin,  II. 
52  5   beads,    II.    52  ;   colors,    II. 
52  ;  as  currency,  II.    53  ;  antiq 
uity,    II.    244  j    importance,    II. 
245  j    belts   described,   II.    248  ; 
litigation     over,    II.     247  ;     still 
used  in  Canada,  II.  248. 

Wampum  keeper,  Ho-no-ive-na'-to, 

I.  65,  115,  327,  II.  246  ;  Onon- 
dagas,     I.    62,  89  ;    decline     of 
office,   II.    246  ;  sells  wampum, 

II.  247  ;     extinction,    II.     247  ; 
University  raised  up,  II.  247. 

War,  unity  in,  I.  695  individual 
enterprise,  I.  68  ;  normal  condi 
tion,  I.  68,  72  ;  declared,  I.  330; 
boundaries  respected  in,  I.  328  j 
formation  of  war  party,  I.  330  ; 
commissary,  I.  330  5  organiza 
tion,  I.  330;  return,  I.  331. 
War  chiefs,  not  a  distinct  class,  I. 
67  ;  two  highest  are  Senecas, 
I.  90  j  and  assistant  sachems,  II. 
215. 

War-club,  see  Club. 
War-dance,  see  Dance. 
War-song,  I.  2,60. 
War-whoop,  I.  261,  330. 
Washington, George,  Ha-no-d'd-ga'- 
ne-ars,    in    Ir.    Heaven,   I.    171, 
245  j  justice  of,  I.  246  5   respect 
for,  II.   122;  his  interest  in  In 
dian,  II.  122  5  his  Indian  policy, 
II.   196. 

Weaving,    braiding,    I.    255    (cut, 
II.     41);   burden    strap,   II.    18 
(plate,  II.  20,  cut,  II.   1 6);   pri 
mary   elements  attained,  II.   20, 
283  ;  great  invention,  II.  283. 
Wells,  unknown,  I.  305. 
White    Dog,    burning  of,   I.    201, 
207  j  II.  257,  261  ff.  ;  antiquity, 
II.  263. 


33* 


INDEX 


Whortleberry  festival,  see  Festivals. 

Wills,  I.  317,  318,    II.  777. 

Winds,  Spirit  of,  Ga'-oh,  I.   151. 

Witches,  I.  156  $  punished,  I. 
321. 

Women,  influence  of,  I.  66  5  Keep 
ers  of  Faith,  I.  179  j  rulers  of 
house,  II.  219  ;  separate  prop 
erty,  II.  273. 

Wood-carving,  II.  43. 


Work-bag,    Ga-ya-ah'    (plate,    II. 

1 10). 

Worship,  I.   175-   of  Great  Spirit, 

I.    208,   II.    235  ;    dance  in,    I. 

249,  269. 
Writing   and    records,    picture,    I. 

331  j  wampum,  I.  327,  II.  245; 

tallies,  II.  245. 
Wrist  band,  see  Band. 
Wyoming,  massacre,  II.  203. 


332 


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